Isolation and characterization of EG2158, a new strain of Bacillus thuringiensis toxic to coleopteran larvae, and nucleotide sequence of the toxin gene.

A novel strain of Bacillus thuringiensis was isolated from soybean grain dust from Kansas and found to be toxic to larvae of Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Colorado potato beetle). The strain (EG2158) synthesized two parasporal crystals: a rhomboid crystal composed of a 73116 dalton protein of approximately 30 kDa. Plasmid transfer and gene cloning experiments demonstrated that the 73 kDa protein was encoded on an 88 MDa plasmid and that the protein was toxic to the larvae of Colorado potato beetle (CPB). The sequence of the 73 kDa protein, as deduced from the sequence of its gene (cryC), was found to have regions of similarity with several B. thuringiensis crystal proteins: the lepidopteran-toxic P1 proteins of var. kurstaki and berliner, the lepidopteran- and dipteran-toxic P2 (or CRYB1) protein of var. kurstaki, and the dipteran-toxic 130 kDa protein of var. israelensis. While B. megaterium cells harboring the cryC gene from EG2158 synthesized significant amounts of the 73 kDa CRYC protein, Escherichia coli cells did not. The cryC-containing B. megaterium cells produced rhomboid crystals that were toxic to CPB larvae.