Differential Expression and Functional Detection of Esterase Isozymes on Isoelectrofocussing Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis from Mexican Beauveria bassiana isolates

The aim of the present study was to analyze the variation of esterase activity as well as the expression patterns of isozymes by isoelectric focusing on polyacrylamide gels (IF-PAGE) and conventional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). Esterase activity and isoforms were analyzed on total proteins from 9 isolates of Beauveria bassiana, from different hosts and geographic areas from the State of Guerrero, Mexico. Total proteins were separated by IF-PAGE and PAGE, in order to characterize the activity and isoelectric points of the esterase isoforms detected on different isolates. Electrophoretic analysis from 9 isolates of Beauveria bassiana, revealed a polymorphic pattern in terms of esterases activity and the presence of isozymes, showing a total of 10 different isoforms with variations in both the activity and isoelectric point. Each isolate showed between 3-6 different isozymes. Cluster analysis derived from the Jaccards coefficients showed a significant association between the presence-absence of esterase isoforms and the geographical origin of the Beauveria bassiana isolates. We conclude that the use of this methodology for functional detection combined with PAGE and IF-PAGE, can be an excellent tool for biochemical characterization of isolates and further impact evaluation of artificial epizootics derived from Biological control programs.