Isolation of Bacillus thuringiensis from Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica

Sixty-two samples of Antarctic soils, mosses, penguin guano, algae and lichens were examined for the presence of aerobic endospore-forming bacteria; 36 samples (58%) yielded such organisms, and two samples from Edmonson Point (74 degrees 21'S 165 degrees 08'E) and one sample from Apostrophe Island (73 degrees 32'S 167 degrees 24'E), northern Victoria Land, yielded strains of Bacillus thuringiensis. Further isolations from two of the samples, appreciable variation in biotypes among the strains, failure of the strains to grow on routine B. thuringiensis media, and the fact that one of the sampling sites is very rarely visited by humans, suggest that the organisms were living in these soils rather than being chance contaminants. A representative strain, from Apostrophe Island, was identified as serovar pirenaica (H57).