MaEng1, an endo-1,3-glucanase, contributes to the conidiation pattern shift through changing the cell wall structure in Metarhizium acridum

[Display omitted] •Deletion of MaEng1 led to the conidiation pattern shift.•Deletion of MaEng1 reduced the content of β-1,3-glucan in fungal cell wall.•Deletion of MaEng1 declined the exposure of β-1,3-glucan on fungal cell wall surface. Microcycle conidiation has displayed the greater potential than normal conidiation in large-scale production of mycopesticides. Fungi require partial hydrolysis of the cell wall to achieve the necessary plasticity during their morphological changes. Therefore, various cell wall-associated hydrolases are crucial for fungal morphogenesis. Eng1, as an endo-β-1,3-glucanase, is involved in the cell separation of fungi, but its role in morphological changes of entomopathogenic fungi is not yet clear. Here, the endo-β-1,3-glucanase gene MaEng1 was characterized in the model entomopathogenic fungi M. acridum. MaEng1 possesses a typical carbohydrate hydrolase domain and belongs to the GH81 family. The functions of MaEng1 in fungal growth, stress tolerance, pathogenicity, and conidiation capacity were analyzed using targeted gene disruption. The results displayed that the absence of MaEng1 does not affect the fungal growth, stress tolerances, and pathogenicity in M. acridum. However, the knockout of MaEng1 led to the normal conidiation of M. acridum on the SYA medium, which can induce the microcycle conidiation. Moreover, the content of β-1,3-glucan in the cell wall of the MaEng1-disruption strain were significantly reduced and the exposures of β-1,3-glucan on the surface of the mature conidia and mycelia in ΔMaEng1 were declined, indicating that MaEng1 contributes to the conversion of conidiation mode in M. acridum by affecting the cell wall structure.