Since the first X-ray structure of Cry3Aa was revealed in 1991, numerous structures of B. thuringiensis toxins have been determined and published. In recent years, functional studies on the mode of action and resistance mechanism have been proposed, which notably promoted the developments of biological insecticides and insect-resistant transgenic crops. With the exploration of known pore-formin...

The members of the Bacillus thuringiensis group, commonly known as Bt, produce a huge number of metabolites, which show biocidal and antagonistic activity. B. thuringiensis is widely known for synthesizing Cry, Vip and Cyt proteins, active against insects and other parasporins with biocidal activity against certain types of cancerous cells. Nevertheless, B. thuringiensis also synthesizes compou...

Plasmid transfer between Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki HD1 and B. thuringiensis subsp. tenebrionis donor strains and a streptomycin-resistant B. thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki recipient was studied under environmentally relevant laboratory conditions in vitro, in soil, and in insects. Plasmid transfer was detected in vitro at temperatures of 5 to 37 degrees C, at pH 5.9 to 9.0, and at w...

It was recently proposed that gut bacteria are required for the insecticidal activity of the Bacillus thuringiensis-based insecticide, DiPel, toward the lepidopterans Manduca sexta, Pieris rapae, Vanessa cardui, and Lymantria dispar. Using a similar methodology, it was found that gut bacteria were not required for the toxicity of DiPel or Cry1Ac or for the synergism of an otherwise sublethal co...

J. Econ. Entomol. 90(3): 732-741 (1997) ABSTRACT A colony of Plutella xylostella (L.), established from crucifer fields in Florida, was used to investigate resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner subsp. kurstaki. From an initial level of >I,500-fold. resistance fell within 3 generations in the absence of selection to =300-fold compared with susceptible larvae. Unlike previous cases of res...

Twenty-five field isolates of Bacillus thuringiensis from the Lower Silesia region of Poland, the Osola plain, and phylloplane niches and soil samples from the Karkonosze National Park were tested for insecticidal activity against larvae of the dipterans Aedes aegypti, Drosophila melanogaster and Musca domestica. The spore-crystal mixture of B. thuringiensis finitimus (soil isolate) killed near...

Bacillus thuringiensis is an important entomopathogenic bacterium belongs to the Bacillus cereus group, which also includes B. anthracis and B. cereus. Several genomes of phages originating from this group had been sequenced, but no genome of Siphoviridae phage from B. thuringiensis has been reported. We recently sequenced and analyzed the genome of a novel phage, BtCS33, from a B. thuringiensi...

Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner as a biological control agent can play a crucial role in the integrated management of a wide range of plant pests and diseases. B. thuringiensis is expected to elicit plant defensive response through plant recognition of microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs), however, there is little information on the molecular base of induced systemic ...

A pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) method was developed for discriminating Bacillus anthracis from B. cereus and B. thuringiensis. A worldwide collection of 25 B. anthracis isolates showed high-profile homology, and these isolates were unambiguously distinguished from B. cereus and B. thuringiensis isolates by cluster analysis of the whole-genome macrorestriction enzyme digestion pattern...