0000000000757402
AUTHOR
J. Van Rie
Resistance to the Bacillus thuringiensis bioinsecticide in a field population of Plutella xylostella is due to a change in a midgut membrane receptor.
The biochemical mechanism for resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis crystal proteins was studied in a field population of diamondback moths (Plutella xylostella) with a reduced susceptibility to the bioinsecticidal spray. The toxicity and binding characteristics of three crystal proteins [CryIA(b), CryIB, and CryIC] were compared between the field population and a laboratory strain. The field population proved resistant (greater than 200-fold compared with the laboratory strain) to CryIA(b), one of the crystal proteins in the insecticidal formulation. Binding studies showed that the two strains differ in a membrane receptor that recognizes CryIA(b). This crystal protein did not bind to the b…
Critical amino acids for the insecticidal activity of Vip3Af from Bacillus thuringiensis: Inference on structural aspects
AbstractVip3 vegetative insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis are an important tool for crop protection against caterpillar pests in IPM strategies. While there is wide consensus on their general mode of action, the details of their mode of action are not completely elucidated and their structure remains unknown. In this work the alanine scanning technique was performed on 558 out of the total of 788 amino acids of the Vip3Af1 protein. From the 558 residue substitutions, 19 impaired protein expression and other 19 substitutions severely compromised the insecticidal activity against Spodoptera frugiperda. The latter 19 substitutions mainly clustered in two regions of the protein …
Screening and identification ofvipgenes inBacillus thuringiensisstrains
Aims: To identify known vip genes and to detect potentially novel vip genes in a collection of 507 strains of Bacillus thuringiensis. Methods and Results: Following a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) strategy, four restriction patterns were found within the vip1 family: vip1Aa1, vip1Ba1/vip1Ba2 and vip1Ca. In the screening of vip2 genes, patterns similar to those of vip2Aa1, vip2Ba1/vip2Ba2 and vip2Ac1 genes were observed. Patterns for vip3Aa1, vip3Ae2 and vip3Af1 were found among vip3 genes. Two new patterns revealed novel vip1 and vip3A genes. The observed frequency of genes belonging to vip1 and vip2 families was around 10%, whereas 48·9% of…