Figure 4.

Role of cre1 in sustaining aerial conidiation and conidial hydrophobicity of B. bassiana. (A) Microscopic images (scale: 5 μm) for conidiation status of samples taken from 3-day-old SDAY cultures and stained with the cell wall specific dye calcofluor white. (B) Relative transcript (RT) levels of three CDP genes and downstream vosA in the 3-day-old SDAY cultures of cre1 mutants with respect to the WT standard. (C) Conidial yields and biomass levels quantified from the SDAY cultures during an 8-day incubation at the optimal regime of 25 °C and L:D 12:12. (D) Conidial hydrophobicity (HPB) index quantified in an aqueous-organic system. (E) SEM images (scale: 0.5 μm) for microstructures of outermost hydrophobin rodlet bundles on conidial surfaces. (F) RT levels of hydrophobin family genes in the 3-day-old SDAY cultures of cre1 mutants with respect to the WT standard. All SDAY cultures were initiated by spreading 100 μL of a 10⁷ conidia/mL suspension per plate. The dashed line (B,F) indicates a significant level of one-fold down- or upregulation. * p < 0.001 in Tukey’s HSD tests. Error bars: SDs of the means from three independent replicates.