title: Kinetics of plasmid transfer among Bacillus cereus group strains within lepidopteran larvae.
abstract: The cry toxin encoding plasmid pHT73 was transferred from Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies kurstaki KT0 to six B. cereus group strains in three lepidopteran (Spodoptera exigua, Plutella xyllostella and Helicoverpa armigera) larvae by conjugation. The conjugation kinetics of the plasmid was precisely studied during the larval infection using a new protocol. The infections were performed with both vegetative and sporulated strains. However, larval death only occurred when infections were made with spore and toxin preparations. Likewise, spore germinations of both donor and recipient strains were only observed in killed larvae, 44-56 h post-infection. Accordingly, kinetics showed that gene transfer between B. thuringiensis strain KT0 and other B. cereus strains only took place in dead larvae among vegetatively growing bacteria. The conjugational transfer ratios varied among different strain combinations and different larvae. The highest transfer ratio reached 5.83 x 10(-6) CFU/donor between the KT0 and the AW05R recipient in Helicoverpa armigera, and all transconjugants gained the ability to produce the insecticidal crystal. These results indicated that horizontal gene transfer among B. cereus group strains might play a key role for the acquisition of extra plasmids and evolution of these strains in toxin susceptible insect larvae.
authors.affiliation: Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China.
authors.forename: Y M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: X M
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: H Z
authors.initials: HZ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Bjarne Munk
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Z M
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Yuan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001409:Bacillus cereus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D000083722:Bacillus thuringiensis Toxins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D003227:Conjugation, Genetic; D004731:Endotoxins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D007814:Larva / Q000382:microbiology; D007915:Lepidoptera / Q000145:classification / Q000254:growth & development / Q000382:microbiology*; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D000083722:Bacillus thuringiensis Toxins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D004731:Endotoxins; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins; C030956:insecticidal crystal protein, Bacillus Thuringiensis