Digestion of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis spores by larvae of Aedes aegypti.

The larvicidal activity of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis against mosquitoes and the blackfly is included in parasporal crystalline bodies which are produced during sporulation. Following ingestion, the crystals are solubilized in the larval midgut and induce death within a short time; the spores germinate in the dead larvae and complete a growth cycle. The fate of the spores in surviving live larvae was elucidated by using a nonlarvicidal B. thuringiensis var. israelensis mutant. When introduced as the only food source, spores of this mutant support development to the adult stage of newly hatched Aedes aegypti larvae at a rate directly related to spore concentration. The conclusion that spores of B. thuringiensis var. israelensis are digested in the larval gut was substantiated by following the incorporation of [35S]methionine-labeled spores into larval tissues.     

Nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria as gene delivery system for expressing mosquitocidal toxins of Bacillus thuringiensis ssp. israelensis

Classical biological control is the most successfuland promising way to replace chemical pesticides. Thesubspecies israelensis of Bacillusthuringiensis (Bti) is a safe and efficient agent tocontrol mosquito larvae and hence mosquito-bornediseases. One approach to overcome the low efficacyand short half-life in nature of current formulationsof Bti is by expressing the toxin genes in recombinantcyanobacteria as a delivery system. Attempts toexpress Bti toxin in cyanoabcteria have been carriedout during the last ten years. Toxicities of thetransgenic strains were however very low, even underregulation of strong promoters, too low to beeffective in vivo. Two Bti Cry proteins haverecently been co-expressed in the filamentousnitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium Anabaena PCC7120, resulting in clones with the highest toxicitiesand stabilities ever reached so far. However, toobtain a long-lasting preparation, it would be usefulto express Bti toxin genes in cyanobacterial strainsisolated from nature. This approach requiresdevelopment of a system for effective transformationinto such strains. Releasing such recombinant strainsto open environments is still a major obstacle inexploiting this biotechnology.