Genomic signatures of host-range divergence in the generalist Beauveria bassiana and the specialist Beauveria brongniartii

Abstract

Entomopathogenic fungi of the genus Beauveria are widely used biological control agents that infect diverse insect hosts and can also associate with plants as rhizosphere colonizers and endophytes. Within this genus, Beauveria bassiana is a cosmopolitan generalist, whereas Beauveria brongniartii exhibits a narrower host range, primarily targeting soil-dwelling coleopteran larvae with limited evidence of plant colonization. To explore genomic differentiation associated with this ecological divergence, the commercially exploited B. brongniartii strain BIPESCO2 and B. bassiana ATHUM 4946 were sequenced using Oxford Nanopore technology, followed by comparative genomic analyses across multiple strains. Orthology identified species-specific gene families, although overall genome architecture and core gene content were highly conserved. The CAZyme repertoires were nearly identical, indicating retention of a versatile enzymatic toolkit supporting plant association, saprotrophy, and insect pathogenicity. In contrast, biosynthetic gene clusters displayed substantial variation, including structural remodeling of Beauveria-specific virulence-associated clusters and expansion of type I polyketide synthase clusters in B. brongniartii. Effector prediction revealed a conserved core of largely uncharacterized proteins alongside species-specific orthogroups enriched in adhesion-, immunity-, and cuticle-interaction domains. Together, these findings indicate that host-range divergence in Beauveria is associated with compartmentalized genomic differentiation, particularly in secondary metabolism and a limited subset of lineage-specific virulence factors, rather than in the conserved core infection machinery.