Rapid analysis of insecticidal metabolites from the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana 331R using UPLC-Q-Orbitrap MS

Beauveria bassiana , a representative entomopathogenic fungus, is increasingly being utilized as an eco-friendly pest management alternative to chemical insecticides. This fungus produces a range of insecticidal secondary metabolites that act as antimicrobial and immunosuppressive agents. However, detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis related to these compounds remains scarce, we developed a method for the rapid analysis of these metabolites. Eight secondary metabolites (bassianin, bassianolide, beauvericin, beauveriolide I, enniatin A, A1, and B, and tenellin) were efficiently extracted when B. bassiana -infected Tenebrio molitor larvae were ground in 70% EtOH extraction solvent and subsequently subjected to ultrasonic treatment for 30 min. The eight metabolites were rapidly and simultaneously analyzed using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-Orbitrap mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-Orbitrap MS). Bassianolide (20.6–51.1 µg/g) and beauvericin (63.6–109.8 µg/g) were identified as the main metabolites in B. basssiana -infected larvae, indicating that they are likely major toxins of B. bassiana . Validation of the method exhibited recovery rates in the range of 80–115% and precision in the range of 0.1–8.0%, indicating no significant interference from compounds in the matrix. We developed a method to rapidly analyze eight insecticidal metabolites using UPLC-Q-Orbitrap MS. This can be extensively utilized for detecting and producing insecticidal fungal secondary metabolites.