Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 30, 2026
The Insect Galleria mellonella as a Powerful Infection Model to Investigate Bacterial Pathogenesis
Published on: December 11, 2012
Construction of a Bacillus thuringiensis genetically-engineered strain harbouring the secreted Cry1Ia delta-endotoxin
Mariam Dammak1, Samir Jaoua, Slim Tounsi
1Biopesticides Team, Centre of Biotechnology of Sfax, University of Sfax, P.O. Box 1177, 3061 Sfax, Tunisia. dammak_mar@yahoo.fr
Abstract:
Unlike other Bacillus thuringiensis Cry proteins, Cry1Ia does not form a crystal since it is a secreted delta-endotoxin. We have engineered a Cry1Iac chimeric protein by substituting the C-terminal part of Cry1Ia by the corresponding Cry1Ac part. When expressed in an acrystalliferous B. thuringiensis strain, Cry1Iac did not crystallize, but when expressed in the crystalliferous strain BNS3, the chimeric protein co-crystallized with the endogenous Cry1A delta-endotoxins forming a typical bipyramidal crystal. The integration of Cry1Ia in the composition of the crystal of BNS3 led to an increase of its delta-endotoxin production (13%) and to an improvement (60%) of its toxicity against Agrotis ipsilon.
Related Concept Videos
01:18Production of Biopesticides
02:50Transgenic Plants
The first-ever transgenic plant was a tobacco plant developed in 1983 that showed resistance against the tobacco mosaic virus. Since then, many transgenic plants have been developed and commercialized for improving the agricultural, ornamental, and horticultural value of a crop plant. Transgenic...