Farooq A Shah

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Verified

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• PhD
• Co-Lead & Manager at Swansea University

Anopheles stephensi is an important vector of malaria in the South Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Africa. The olfactory system of An. stephensi plays an important role in host-seeking, oviposition, and feeding. Odorant binding proteins (OBPs) are globular proteins that play a pivotal role in insect olfaction by transporting semiochemicals throu...

Third and fourth instar larvae of Aedes aegypti actively ingested entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) and their symbiotic bacteria, resulting in larval mortality. All six EPN species evaluated in this study were pathogenic to Ae. aegypti but varied significantly in their virulence. Heterorhabditis bacteriophora and Steinernema carpocapsae were most v...

This study describes intra specific variability among Metarhizium ansiopliae strains in terms of their ability to produce blastospores in selected liquid culture media. Blastospore production of 10 strains was evaluated in 6 different media representing different carbon and nitrogen sources. Irrespective of strain, media containing corn steep and y...

Five cereal grains. namely. maize (Zea mays L.). rice (Oryza sativum L.). sorghum (Sorghum bicolar (L.) Moench). millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br), and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were crushed and evaluated for their potentials to support growth and sporulation of the insect-pathogenic fungus. Metarhizium anisopliae (Metchnikoff) Sorokin (iso...

Amending plant growing media with biocontrol agents is becoming an increasingly popular strategy for protecting plants against insect pests and diseases. Although this practice offers potential for pest and disease control, very little is known about the influence of introduced microbes on the indigenous microbial communities and vice versa. This s...

Previously, the combination of reduced rate of entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN) and fungus caused additive or synergistic mortality to third-instar black vine weevil (BVW), Otiorhynchus sulcatus. In this study, we examined this interaction in unheated glasshouses during winter and compared a combination of commercial formulation of a cold-tolerant...

The influence of 15 commercially available fungicides on the germination, growth and virulence of Metarhizium anisopliae, Beauveria bassiana, Isaria fumosorosea, and Lecanillium longisporum was evaluated. The influence of the fungicides on conidial germination was dependant on the fungicide type and dose. Most fungicides retarded conidial germinati...

Combined use of the entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs), Heterorhabditis bacteriophora Poinar (Heterorhabditidae), Steinernema feltiae Bovien, and Steinernema kraussei Steiner (Steinernematidae) and the insect-pathogenic fungus, Metarhizium anisopliae (Metsch.) Sorokin (Clavicipitaceae) was evaluated for control of third-instar black vine weevil, Oti...

There is much public interest in the use of fungal biological control agents as alternatives to chemical pesticides. However, there are some concerns as to whether the metabolites produced by these fungi pose a risk to humans and the environment. Destruxins are the main metabolites produced by the insect pathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae (Me...

The potential of several entomopathogenic fungi to control soil-dwelling stages of western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis Pergande (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), was evaluated in various growing media. Two Metarhizium anisopliae (Metsch) Sorokin strains, V275 and ERL700, were the most effective, causing 85–96% mortality of thrips larvae and...

Neem seed cake enhanced the efficacy of the insect pathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae for control of black vine weevil (BVW), Otiorhynuchs sulcatus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) larvae in out door potted Euonymus plants. Both M. anisopliae and neem seed cake alone were effective against earlier instar larvae with the degree of control being dos...

Repeated subculturing caused rapid changes in the spore surface properties and virulence of Metarhizium anisopliae. Of the two strains evaluated, M. anisopliae V245 attenuated more rapidly than V275. Electrophoretic mobility and Radial Flow Chamber assays were used for the first time to generate qualitative and quantitative information on the adhes...

Incorporation of fungal biological control agents (BCAs) into plant growing media has considerable ergonomic and economic benefits for growers. These agents usually give prophylactic control of target pests and diseases. However, their efficacy is dose dependent and loss of inoculum through leaching could influence the degree of protection they pro...

Three isolates of the entomopathogen Beauveria bassiana along with one strain of Metarhizium anisopliae were cultured on seven media with different carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratios. The effect of nutrition on virulence of the isolates was evaluated via measurement of colony growth, spore yield, germination speed, conidial C/N ratio and Pr1 (a serine pr...

The entomogenous fungus Metarhizium anisopliae V275 was more efficacious than chemical insecticides (imidacloprid, fipronil) in killing pupae of the western flower thrips (70–90% versus 20–50%) in a range of horticultural growing media (peat, coir, bark and peat blends with 10% and 20% composted green waste). Premixing inoculum of M. anisopliae int...

Metarhizium anisopliae V275 was efficacious against black vine weevil when used alone or in combination with sublethal doses of imidacloprid or fipronil. Both control strategies were effective in peat, coir, bark and peat blends with composted green waste. M. anisopliae can be applied as drench or premixed into growing media. The former gave margin...

The white grub, Hoplia philanthus Füessly (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), is a major pest of turf and ornamental plants in Belgium. Previously, the combination of lethal concentration of the entomopathogenic nematodes Heterorhabditis megidis or Steinernema glaseri with the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae (strain CLO 53) caused additive o...

Fungi are notorious for losing virulence and changing their morphology when successively subcultured on artificial media. Various terms have been used to describe this phenomenon including phenotypic degeneration, phenotypic instability, phenotypic deterioration, dual phenomenon, saltation and attenuation (Butt, 2002; Kawakami, 1960; Nagaich, 1973;...

Nutrition influenced growth, sporulation and virulence of the insect pathogenic fungus, Metarhizium anisopliae. Virulent conidia were produced on susceptible insect hosts, 1% yeast extract, 2% peptone, osmotic stress medium (OSM) and CN 10:1 medium. Several strain independent markers were identified that could be used to predict the virulence of M....

Metarhizium anisopliae strains V245 and V275 differed in their stability when grown on different nutrient media. V275 produced fewer sectors than V245 irrespective of the cultural conditions. Both strains produced more sectors on nutrient rich media. At least four distinct types of sectors were produced in vitro. Most sectors were sterile or sporul...

Triplicate molecular methods, i.e. polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism of the pr1 gene, microsatellite markers and 28S rDNA haplotyping by detecting the presence or absence of group I introns, were used for population study of the entomopathogenic fungus, Beauveria bassiana. The findings showed that the average geneti...