Charactererization of novel non-toxic Bacillus thuringiensis isoloates from Korea

J.Y. ROH, H.W. PARK, B.R. JIN, H.S. KIM, Y.M. YU AND S.K. KANG. 1996. Four Bacillus thuringiensis isolates from soil samples produced parasporal inclusions which were non-toxic to insects. The isolates were named B. thuringiensis NTB-1, NTB-2, NTB-3 and NTB-4. The parasporal inclusions were shown to be ovoid by phase contrast and scanning electron microscopy. The serotypes of the four isolates were determined by agglutination using 33 antisera; NTB-1 and NTB-4 seemed to be subsp. isruelensis ,and NTB-2 seemed to be subsp. pondzcheriensis . NTB-3 did not react with the 33 antisera. However, comparison of parasporal protein and plasmid DNA patterns of the four isolates with those of 15 known non-toxic B. thuringiensis strains demonstrated that the four isolates are novel.