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Updated: Apr 30, 2026

Author Spotlight: Evaluation of Entomopathogenic Fungi in Wild Monochamus alternatus Populations for Biocontrol Applications in Forest Wood Borers
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Conserved gene clusters in entomopathogenic filamentous fungi

Alexandra de Azevedo da Rocha1, Charley Christian Staats1

  • 1Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Celular e Molecular, Centro de Biotecnologia, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.

Genetics and Molecular Biology
|April 28, 2026
PubMed

Insights

Filamentous fungi are key for biological pest control, producing valuable secondary metabolites (SMs). This study analyzed fungal gene clusters, revealing diverse SMs and potential new tools for pest management.

Area of Science:

  • Mycology
  • Biotechnology
  • Genomics

Background:

  • Entomopathogenic fungi, particularly from the Order Hypocreales, are vital for biological pest control.
  • These fungi produce secondary metabolites (SMs) encoded by biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs), essential for their life cycle and pathogenicity.
  • The biotechnological significance of SMs drives increased research into fungal chemodiversity.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To conduct an in-silico analysis of BGCs in Hypocreales species.
  • To identify conserved SM pathways and discover novel BGCs for biological pest control applications.
  • To explore the chemodiversity within the Order Hypocreales.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of 295 genome sequences from Hypocreales using antiSMASH.
  • Identification and quantification of BGCs.
  • Conservation analysis of BGCs using BiG-SCAPE to group them into gene families.

Main Results:

  • Identified 12,968 BGCs across 295 Hypocreales genomes.
  • Grouped BGCs into 2,127 distinct biosynthetic gene families.
  • Observed conserved gene clusters within genera but highlighted significant BGC diversity and orphaned clusters across the order, indicating extensive fungal chemodiversity.

Conclusions:

  • The in-silico approach successfully uncovered a wide range of BGCs within the Order Hypocreales.
  • The identified diversity suggests a rich source of novel SMs with potential biotechnological applications.
  • This study provides a foundation for discovering new tools for biological pest control.

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