Morphogenesis of blastospores of ten species of entomopathogenic fungi
十种虫生真菌液体培养芽生孢子的形态发生

Blastospores are asexual fungal spores produced by budding and they are the main propagules in liquid culture for many fungi. They have been used as inoculum for solid culture for massproduction of fungal insecticides and also as an important receptor for current genetic transformation of entomopathogenic fungi. The morphogenesis of blastospores of 10 species of entomopathogenic fungi in liquid culture was studied, including Beauveria bassiana, Isaria farinosa, I. cicadae, I. cateniannulata, I. fumosorosea, I. tenuipes, I. cateniobliqua, Metarhizium anisopliae, M. acridum and Lecanicillium lecanii. The results showed two patterns of morphogenesis. I. cicadae mainly propagate as mycelium in liquid culture while the morphogenesis of the other 9 species in the liquid culture were similar and all involved two manners: yeast-like budding or hypha and/or blastospore constrictions. The second pattern included initial phase, exponential phase and senescence phase. In initial phase, blastospores were generated by budding or constriction of mycelium. In exponential phase, they were massively produced by budding or constriction of both mycelium and blastospores. In senescence phase, new blastospores were produced by blastospore budding.