In sporulating cultures of Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. yunnanensis HD977, two cell types are observed: cells forming only spores and cells forming only crystals. Curing analysis suggested that the crystal proteins are plasmid encoded. Through plasmid transfer experiments, it was established that a 103-MDa plasmid is involved in the crystal production. Conjugal transfer of this plasmid to Cry-...

background bacillus thuringiensis is the most successful biological control agent used in agriculture, forestry and mosquito control. however, the insecticidal activity of the b. thuringiensis formulation is not very stable and rapidly loses its biological activity under field conditions, due to the ultraviolet radiation in sunlight. melanin is known to absorb radiation therefore photo protecti...

The importance of the entomopathogenic bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis in the control of Aedes aegypti is presented. The use and potential of B. thuringiensis israelensis against the mosquito vector of dengue fever is described. Other aspects such as insect's resistance development against chemicals and advantages and constraints of using microbial control are discussed. Emphasis i...

Persistence of biological control agents against mosquito larvae was tested under simulated field conditions. Mosquito larvicidal activity of transgenic Anabaena PCC 7120 expressing cry4Aa, cry11Aa and p20 from Bacillus thuringiensis ssp. israelensis was greater than B. thuringiensis ssp. israelensis primary powder (fun 89C06D) or wettable powder (WP) (Bactimos products) when either mixed with ...

Insecticide resistance to the microbial insecticides Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis (Bti) and Bacillus sphaericus (Bs) represents a serious threat to their success. Available evidence indicates that the risk for resistance to Bti is low due to the makeup of its parasporal crystal, which contains Cyt1A, Cry4A, Cry4B, and Cry11A toxic proteins. Disrupting the toxin complex in Bti enabl...

A low frequency of chromosomal gene transfer from Bacillus thuringiensis to Bacillus cereus was detected by cell mating, with a tryptophan marker being the most frequently transferred gene among four that were tested. The process was resistant to DNase and was not mediated by cell filtrates. Among several B. thuringiensis subspecies tested, transfer was best with a derivative of B. thuringiensi...

The toxicity of purified Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis crystals to larvae of Aedes aegypti could be reversed 100-fold by levels of K(2)CO(3) as low as 0.15%.