A BIOINFORMATICS CHARACTERIZATION OF THE RNA-DEPENDENT RNA POLYMERASE FROM THE PARASITIC FUNGI, Metarhizium anisopliae

Abstract

Metarhizium anisopliae is an entomopathogenic organism that is parasitic towards insects, including those that serve as vectors for human disease, including malaria parasite infected Anopheles mosquitoes. Directed bioengineering of parasitic M. anisopliae has been proposed as a potentially novel vector control strategy. However, many parasitic fungi posses a RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) gene that serves as a defence against transgenes. Here we characterize the RdRp gene of M. anisopliae, including the context of the gene in relation to surrounding genes and theoretical modeling based on the RdRp enzyme of Neurospora crassa.

Keywords

• entomopathogenic fungi
• metarhizium anisopliae
• parasites
• transgenes
• vector control