Cloning and characterization of a novel crystal protein from a native Bacillus thuringiensis isolate highly active against Aedes aegypti

Abstract

We characterized a novel Bacillus thuringiensis isolate native to Argentina (FCC 41) that exhibits a mosquitocidal activity higher than the reference B. thuringiensis subsp. israelensis. This isolate shows a rounded crystal harboring two major proteins of about 70-80 kDa. Moreover, we cloned and sequenced the encoding gene of one of the crystal proteins (Cry) consisting of an open reading frame of 2061 pb that encodes a protein of 687 amino acid residues. The deduced amino acid sequence has a predicted relative molecular mass of 78 kDa and is 52% and 45% identical to those of the reported Cry24Aa and Cry24Ba sequences, respectively. The novel Cry protein was designated as Cry24Ca, which also exhibited larvicidal activity against Aedes aegypti when its encoding gene was expressed in an Escherichia coli host strain.