State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QG, UK.
Trends Microbiol. 2015 Jun;23(6):341-6. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2015.02.011. Epub 2015 Mar 25.
Bacillus thuringiensis, which is well known as an entomopathogen, has been accepted by the public as a safe bioinsecticide. The natural ecology of this bacterium has never been particularly clear, with views ranging from it being an obligate pathogen to an opportunist pathogen that can otherwise exist as a soil saprophyte or a plant endophyte. This confusion has recently led to it being considered as an environmental pathogen that has evolved to occupy a diverse set of environmental niches in which it can thrive without needing a host. A significant driving force behind this classification is the fact that B. thuringiensis is found in high numbers in environments that are not occupied by the insect hosts to which it is pathogenic. It is our opinion that the ubiquitous presence of this bacterium in the environment is the result of a variety of vectoring systems, particularly those that include nematodes.
苏云金芽孢杆菌作为一种昆虫病原，被公众普遍认为是一种安全的生物杀虫剂。这种细菌的自然生态从未被特别清晰地了解，其观点从它是一种专性病原体到机会病原体不等，这种病原体可以作为土壤腐生物或植物内生菌存在。这种混淆最近导致它被认为是一种环境病原体，它已经进化到可以占据多样化的环境小生境，在这些小生境中，它可以在没有宿主的情况下茁壮成长。这种分类的一个重要驱动力是，苏云金芽孢杆菌在昆虫宿主不占据的环境中大量存在。我们认为，这种细菌在环境中的普遍存在是多种载体系统的结果，特别是那些包括线虫的载体系统。
