Phylogenetic and biogeographic implications inferred by mitochondrial intergenic region analyses and ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 of the entomopathogenic fungi <Emphasis Type="Italic">Beauveria bassiana</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">B. brongniartii</Emphasis>

Background  

The entomopathogenic fungi of the genus Beauveria are cosmopolitan with a variety of different insect hosts. The two most important species, B. bassiana and B. brongniartii, have already been used as biological control agents of pests in agriculture and as models for the study of insect host - pathogen interactions. Mitochondrial (mt) genomes, due to their properties to evolve faster than the nuclear DNA, to contain introns and mobile elements and to exhibit extended polymorphisms, are ideal tools to examine genetic diversity within fungal populations and genetically identify a species or a particular isolate. Moreover, mt intergenic region can provide valuable phylogenetic information to study the biogeography of the fungus.