Using 454 pyrosequencing for assessing the effect of artificially appliedBeauveria bassiana on fungal diversity in agricultural soils in India

Abstract: Due to optimal climatic conditions, entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) like Beauveriabassiana are frequently used as biocontrol agents against insects in tropical countries. EPF areusually sprayed onto the plant’s foliage or directly onto the soil. So far little is known on theeffect of applications of EPF towards the naturally occurring soil microflora. In 2010, twoagricultural fields in India were examined to define the structure and richness of the indigenoussoil fungal community and to determine the influence of artificially applied Beauveria bassiana(strain ITCC 4688) on these populations. We performed this study by using tag-encoded 454pyrosequencing of the fungal nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer-1 (ITS-1) region. Ourstudy validates the effectiveness of high-throughput 454 sequencing technology for assessing soilfungal diversity in agricultural soils and gives first insights into the effects of the application of amicrobial biocontrol agent on soil fungal community compositions.