BUSCADOR RECOLECTA

This study describes the insecticidal activity of a novel Bacillus thuringiensis Cry-related protein with a deduced 799 amino acid sequence (~89 kDa) and ~19% pairwise identity to the 95-kDa-aphidicidal protein (sequence number 204) from patent US 8318900 and ~40% pairwise identity to the cancer cell killing Cry proteins (parasporins Cry41Ab1 and Cry41Aa1), respectively. This novel Cry-related protein contained the five conserved amino acid blocks and the three conserved domains commonly found in 3-domain Cry proteins. The protein exhibited toxic activity against the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (Homoptera: Aphididae) with the lowest mean lethal concentration (LC50 = 32.7 μg/mL) reported to date for a given Cry protein and this insect species, whereas it had no lethal toxicity against the Lepidoptera of the family Noctuidae Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner), Mamestra brassicae (L.), Spodoptera exigua (Hübner), S. frugiperda (J.E. Smith) and S. littoralis (Boisduval), at concentrations as high as ~3.5 μg/cm2. This novel Cry-related protein may become a promising environmentally friendly tool for the biological control of M. persicae and possibly also for other sap sucking insect pests., This research was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Grant Ref. AGL2009-13340-C02) and by the Universidad Pública de Navarra (contract awarded to L.P.).

In this work, we report the genome sequencing of two Bacillus thuringiensis
strains using Illumina next-generation sequencing technology (NGS). Strain Hu4-2, toxic
to many lepidopteran pest species and to some mosquitoes, encoded genes for two
insecticidal crystal (Cry) proteins, cry1Ia and cry9Ea, and a vegetative insecticidal protein
(Vip) gene, vip3Ca2. Strain Leapi01 contained genes coding for seven Cry proteins
(cry1Aa, cry1Ca, cry1Da, cry2Ab, cry9Ea and two cry1Ia gene variants) and a vip3 gene
(vip3Aa10). A putative novel insecticidal protein gene 1143 bp long was found in both
strains, whose sequences exhibited 100% nucleotide identity. The predicted protein
showed 57 and 100% pairwise identity to protein sequence 72 from a patented Bt strain
(US8318900) and to a putative 41.9-kDa insecticidal toxin from Bacillus cereus,
respectively. The 41.9-kDa protein, containing a C-terminal 6× HisTag fusion, was
expressed in Escherichia coli and tested for the first time against four lepidopteran species
(Mamestra brassicae, Ostrinia nubilalis, Spodoptera frugiperda and S. littoralis) and the
green-peach aphid Myzus persicae at doses as high as 4.8 μg/cm2 and 1.5 mg/mL,
respectively. At these protein concentrations, the recombinant 41.9-kDa protein caused no
mortality or symptoms of impaired growth against any of the insects tested, suggesting that these species are outside the protein’s target range or that the protein may not, in fact, be
toxic. While the use of the polymerase chain reaction has allowed a significant increase in
the number of Bt insecticidal genes characterized to date, novel NGS technologies promise
a much faster, cheaper and efficient screening of Bt pesticidal proteins., This research was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (grant
ref. AGL2009-13340-C02) and by the Universidad Pública de Navarra (PhD contract awarded to L.P.).

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a Gram positive, spore-forming bacterium that synthesizes parasporal crystalline inclusions containing Cry and Cyt proteins, some of which are toxic against a wide range of insect orders, nematodes and human-cancer cells. These toxins have been successfully used as bioinsecticides against caterpillars, beetles, and flies, including mosquitoes and blackflies. Bt also synthesizes insecticidal proteins during the vegetative growth phase, which are subsequently secreted into the growth medium. These proteins are commonly known as vegetative insecticidal proteins (Vips) and hold insecticidal activity against lepidopteran, coleopteran and some homopteran pests. A less well characterized secretory protein with no amino acid similarity to Vip proteins has shown insecticidal activity against coleopteran pests and is termed Sip (secreted insecticidal protein). Bin-like and ETX_MTX2-family proteins (Pfam PF03318), which share amino acid similarities with mosquitocidal binary (Bin) and Mtx2 toxins, respectively, from Lysinibacillus sphaericus, are also produced by some Bt strains. In addition, vast numbers of Bt isolates naturally present in the soil and the phylloplane also synthesize crystal proteins whose biological activity is still unknown. In this review, we provide an updated overview of the known active Bt toxins to date and discuss their activities., This research was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (grant reference AGL2009-13340-C02) and by the Universidad Pública de Navarra (PhD contract awarded to Leopoldo Palma).