Advances in Entomopathogen Isolation: A Case of Bacteria and Fungi

Entomopathogenic bacteria and fungi are quite frequently found in soils and insect cadavers. The first step in utilizing these microbes as biopesticides is to isolate them, and several culture media and insect baiting procedures have been tested in this direction. In this work, the authors review the current techniques that have been developed so far, in the last five decades, and display brief protocols which can be adopted for the isolations of these entomopathogens. Among bacteria, this review focuses on Serratia spp. and bacteria from the class Bacilli. Among fungi, the review focuses those from the order Hypocreales, for example, genera Beauveria, Clonostachys, Lecanicillium, Metarhizium, and Purpureocillium. The authors chose these groups of entomopathogenic bacteria and fungi based on their importance in the microbial biopesticide market.