title: Vegetative insecticidal protein of Bacillus thuringiensis BLB459 and its efficiency against Lepidoptera.
abstract: Bacillus thuringiensis strain BLB459 supernatant showed a promising activity against Lepidopteran pests with extremely damages in the larvae midgut. Investigations of the genes that encode secreted toxin demonstrated that this strain harbored a vip3-type gene named vip3(459). Based on its original nucleotide and amino acid sequences, this gene was cloned into pET-14b vector and overexpressed in Escherichia coli. The expressed protein was purified and tested against different insects and interestingly the novel toxin demonstrated a remarkable activity against the stored products pest Ephestia kuehniella and the polyphagous insects Spodoptera littoralis and Agrotis segetum. As demonstrated, the acute activity of Vip3(459) protein against A. segetum can be due to its original amino acids sequence and the putative receptors of this toxin in the larvae midgut. These results demonstrated that this Vip3 toxin showed a wide spectrum of activity against Lepidoptera and support its use as a biological control agent.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biopesticides, Centre of Biotechnology of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Hanen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Boukedi
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biopesticides, Centre of Biotechnology of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Saoussen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ben Khedher
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biopesticides, Centre of Biotechnology of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Rania
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hadhri
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: Samir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jaoua
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biopesticides, Centre of Biotechnology of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Slim
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tounsi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences and Arts-Khulais, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Higher Institute of Biotechnology of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia. Electronic address: mesratilobna@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Lobna
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Abdelkefi-Mesrati
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001413:Bacillus thuringiensis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004064:Digestive System / Q000187:drug effects; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D007306:Insecticides; D007814:Larva; D007915:Lepidoptera; D009036:Moths; D010572:Pest Control, Biological; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D018411:Spodoptera
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D007306:Insecticides; C447139:Vip3A protein, Bacillus thuringiensis
keywords: Bacillus thuringiensis; Biological control; Lepidoptera; Toxicity; Vegetative insecticidal protein