Prevalence of the species Beauveria pseudobassiana among tick-associated fungal isolates from the Republic of Moldova

Abstract: Fungal strains isolated from ixodid ticks in the Republic of Moldova were geneticallycharacterized using the ribosomal RNA operon internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions togetherwith the 5.8S rRNA gene as well as the nuclear genes ef1a encoding the alpha subunit ofeukaryotic translation elongation factor 1α as phylogenetic markers. On the basis of the sequencedata obtained, eight out of ten isolates were assigned to the Beauveria species B. pseudobassiana.The two remaining isolates were consistently characterized as Isaria farinosa and as an Aspergillusspecies, respectively. Further work to elucidate if the prevalence of the species B. pseudobassianain ticks is or not a regional phenomenon is in progress.