Draft Genome Sequences of Two Bacillus thuringiensis Strains and Characterization of a Putative 41.9-kDa Insecticidal Toxin

Toxins

Leopoldo Palma¹  Delia Muñoz²  Colin Berry³  Jesús Murillo² 

[1] Instituto de Agrobiotecnología, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas-Universidad Pública de Navarra-Gobierno de Navarra, Campus Arrosadía, Mutilva Baja, Navarra 31192, Spain; E-Mail:;Grupo de Protección Cultivos, Departamento de Producción Agraria, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Agrónomos, Universidad Pública de Navarra, Pamplona, Navarra 31006, Spain; E-Mails:;Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK; E-Mail:

关键词: Bacillus thuringiensis;    insecticidal toxins;    next-generation sequencing;    genome annotation;    microbial control;    insecticidal activity;   

DOI  :  10.3390/toxins6051490

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

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.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.