Characterization of lepidopteran-specific and gene harbouring native isolates toxic against .

() based biopesticides are feasible alternatives to chemical pesticides. Here, we present the distribution of lepidopteran-specific and genes in native . Forty four out of 86 colonies were found to harbour crystals by phase contrast microscopy exhibiting a index of 0.51. PCR analysis resulted in the amplification of in 24 and in 14 isolates. Twelve of the isolates showed presence of both and , while 18 isolates did not show presence of either of the genes. Toxicity screening using spore-crystal mixtures against 2nd instar larvae of revealed that the isolates (50%) were either mildly toxic or not toxic (36.36%), and only 13.63% were toxic. The results are interesting, particularly so because the same isolates were previously reported to contain lepidopteran specific genes also, hence can complement the toxicity of the isolates harbouring genes.