Characterization of INTA 51-3, a new atypical strain of Bacillus thuringiensis from Argentina

Several isolates of Bacillus thuringiensis native to Argentina obtained in a nationwide screening program showed atypical crystal morphology. One of these strains, INTA 51-3, was further characterized in order to determine other features like protein composition of its parasporal crystal, plasmid pattern, identification of cry genes and toxicological properties. B. thuringiensis INTA 51-3 (serovar tohokuensis) had an amorphous inclusion containing a major protein component of ca. 130 kDa. After trypsin digestion of solubilized crystals, SDS-PAGE resolved a unique protease-resistant peptide of ca. 90 kDa. The plasmid pattern from INTA 51-3 resembled that of the standard strain HD-1. However, Southern analysis showed no hybridization to fragments of cry1Aa, cry2Aa, cry3A, and cry11A genes. Degenerate primers were used for identification of the cry1 genes by PCR. Nevertheless, the presence of cry1 type gene(s) in B. thuringiensis INTA 51-3 was confirmed. Highly concentrated crystal suspensions showed to be weakly toxic only to lepidopteran species.