• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.177-182
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• 1996

Effects of 14 carbohydrates supplied as carbon sources on cell growth and sporulation of, and the production of insecticidal crystal proteins by Bacillus thuringiensis strains were investigated in liquid cultures. Strains grew well in media containing any one of the 14 carbohydrates supplied, reaching maximum cell densities of $10^7{\sim}10^8\;cells/ml$ in 16.7 to 22 hours after inoculation depending on the strain. Spores first appeared in 16.7 to 24.7 hours after inoculation, and 80% sporulation was reached in 28 to 51.3 hours after inoculation depending on the strain. No change in pH of media was observed after cell multiplication. The production of total protein was highest when supplied with sucrose and was lowest with starch. More insecticidal crystal proteins were produced when supplied with glucose, lactose, maltose, or sucrose. The amount of insecticidal crystal proteins produced by the strains was proportional to that of the total protein. The relative amount of individual insecticidal crystal protein species produced by B.t. kurstaki and B.t. israelensis was not influenced by the carbohydrates supplied.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.305-311
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• 1997

Bacillus thuringiensis, a gram-positive soil bacterium, is characterized by its ability to produce crystalline inclusions during sporulation. The crystal proteins exhibit a highly specific insecticidal activity. An insecticidal crystal protein (ICP), Cry II A, is specifically toxic to both lepidopteran and dipteran insects. In this study, tobacco plants transformed by the cry II A gene have been generated. The Cry II A crystal protein was purified from E. coli JM103 harboring cry II A gene by differential solubility. The activated Cry II A was prepared by tryptic digestion. The purified protoxin (70 kDa) and the activated toxin (50 kDa) were analyzed by SDS-PAGE. To generate the transgenic tobacco having cry II A gene, the cry II A gene was subcloned to a plant expression vector, pSRL2, having two CaMV 35S promoters. The recombinant plasmid was transformed into tobacco (N. tabacum var. Petit Havana SR1) by Agrobacterium-mediated leaf disc transformation. Through the regeneration, six putative transgenic tobacco plants were obtained and three transformants were confirmed by Southern blot analysis. It has been found that one plant had single copy of cry II A gene, another had two copies of the gene, and the third had a truncated gene. After the immunochemical confirmation of cry II A expression in plants, the transgenic tobacco plants will be used to study the genetics of future generation with the insecticidal crystal protein gene cry II A.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.23-30
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• 1998

The cryIB, truncated cryIB$[cryIB({\alpha})]$, cryIA(b), and cytA genes, encoding 135-, 89-, 131-, and 27-kDa proteins, respectively, from Bacillus thuringiensis were cloned into a shuttle vector pBES and expressed in E. coli and Bacillus species. The morphology and solubility in alkaline buffer of the insecticidal crystal proteins were investigated. Transformation of intact cells of E. coli and Bacillus species was achieved by electroporation. High field strength of 11.0 kV/cm and resistance of 129 ohms were required for efficient transformation of E. coli strains and 4.5 kV/cm and 48 ohms for Bacillus species. Strains of recombinant E. coli and Bacillus species produced the insecticidal crystal proteins and accumulated as the same bipyramidal and irregular structures as those of CryIB and IA(b) and CytA of B. thuringiensls, respectively. The insecticidal crystal proteins accumulated in recombinant E. coli wire smaller in size than those in recombinant Bacillus species. The solubility in alkaline buffer of the insecticidal crystal proteins of recombinant E. coli increased gradually as the pH increased, whereas in the case of Bacillus species the solubility increased gradually as the pH increased up to 9 and then the solubility increased greatly up to two times higher than that of E. coli proteins.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.131-137
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• 2006

This experiment was conducted to select prominent microorganisms with a good insecticidal activity among the ten species, which isolated from soil at the near of Chung-buk, Chung-nam, and Gang-won provinces and made protein crystal endotoxin. As a result, GB-413 strain was finally selected, which showed the high insecticidal activity against susceptible diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella), beet army worm (Spodoptera exigua) and tobacco cutworm (Spodoptera litura) as well as resistant diamondback moth strains. By modifying the cultivation process f.g. lowing the glucose concentration at early cultivation stage and adding the carbon after inducing the spores, the percentage of making spore as well as the number of active spore were increased and the time for cultivation and spore forming was reduced without a reduction of insecticidal activity. These results were not only applied successfully for the optimized cultivation process for a fermentation tank containing five tons capacity, but also improved the possibility of mass cultivation for commercial production.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.87-93
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• 2008

Bacillus thuringiensis with selected high toxicities against tobacco cutworm, Spodoptera litura were isolated from domestic soils. When being observed under a phase-contrast microscope, the insecticidal crystal proteins were showed a bipyramidal crystal types. New CAB 109 isolate was identified to B. thuringiensis subsp. aizawai in the H serotype. As a results of insecticidal activities between CAB 109 isolate and 3 existing ready-made products against 3rd larva of S. litura, CAB 109 isolate showed 100% mortality with spore concentration $(1.3{\times}10^7cfu/ml)$. It was a very high insecticidal activity compared with a existing ready-made B. t. products. $LD_{50}$ values of CAB 109 isolate was $9.78{\times}10^5,\;6.87{\times}10^6\;and\;1.83{\times}10^7cfu/ml$ spore concentration against 2nd, 3rd and 4th larva of S. litura, respectively. Unlike Plutella xylostella, S. litura was slowly died after application up to 7 days. The weight of S. litura larva applied with CAB 109 isolate were 6-7 times less than controlled group. Even though it didn't die, it did not grow into next larva. The result observed with scanning electron microscope was that CAB 109 isolate of B. t. aizawai formed a typical bipyramidal crystal protein type. Otherwise, when CAB 109 isolate was examined with SDS-PAGE and with trypsin, there was no difference between CAB 109 strain and ready-made products of B. thuringiensis.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.110-116
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• 2004

The over-expression in E. coli of the pHLN1-SO(＋) and pHLN2-80(－) plasmids cloned an insecticidal crystal protein (ICP) gene (crylAal type) from Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki HD 1 was investigated through in part, the deletion of -80 bp promoter and an alternative change of cloning vector system. Two recombinant plasmids were constructed in an attempt to analyze the over-expression of the ICP in relations to its gene structure possessing only -14 bp ［Shine-Dalgarno (SD) sequence of -80 bp promoter］. Also, anther two recombinant plasmids similarly cloned the icp gene in a different vector system. The amounts of ICP produced from the recombinants were measured by SDS-PAGE and confirmed by Western blot analysis. One clone, pHLRBS1-14 clone in which only the SD sequence in the inverted orientation icp gene appeared, was more evident than the pHLRBS2-14 clone in which only the -14 bp SD sequence of the right orientated icp gene was shown to exist. The pHLN2-80(－) clone produced more ICP proteins than the pHLRBS1-14 clone. In the two clones, pHLNUC1-80 right-oriented icp gene and the pHLNUC2-80 clone inverted-orientation icp gene in a new different vector, the pHLNUC2-80 produced more ICP proteins in E. coli system. These results indicate that the P/ac promoter, the inverted icp gene insertion and -80 bp promoter (-66 bp part of the icp gene promoters), were concerned with the expression of the icp gene in the recombinant plasmids. In addition, the expression mechanism might result from the disruption of the transcription-suppressing regions in the promoter regions.