0000000000486129
AUTHOR
Fakher Kamoun
Overproduction of the Bacillus thuringiensis Vip3Aa16 toxin and study of its insecticidal activity against the carob moth Ectomyelois ceratoniae
Abstract The vip3Aa16 gene of Bacillus thuringiensis strain BUPM95 was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli . Optimization of Vip3A16 protein expression was conducted using Plackett–Burman design and response surface methodology. Accordingly, the optimum Vip3A16 toxin production was 170 μg/ml at 18 h post-induction time and 39 °C post-induction temperature. This corresponds to an improvement of 21 times compared to the starting conditions. The insecticidal activity, evaluated against Ectomyelois ceratoniae , displayed an LC 50 value of 40 ng/cm 2 and the midgut histopathology of Vip3Aa16 fed larvae showed vacuolization of the cytoplasm, brush border membrane destruction, vesicle formati…
Investigation of the steps involved in the difference of susceptibility of Ephestia kuehniella and Spodoptera littoralis to the Bacillus thuringiensis Vip3Aa16 toxin
BUPM95 is a Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki strain producing the Vip3Aa16 toxin with an interesting insecticidal activity against the Lepidopteran larvae Ephestia kuehniella. Study of different steps in the mode of action of this Vegetative Insecticidal Protein on the Mediterranean flour moth (E. kuehniella) was carried out in the aim to investigate the origin of the higher susceptibility of this insect to Vip3Aa16 toxin compared to that of the Egyptian cotton leaf worm Spodoptera littoralis. Using E. kuehniella gut juice, protoxin proteolysis generated a major band corresponding to the active toxin and another band of about 22kDa, whereas the activation of Vip3Aa16 by S. littoralis …