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No More Tears: Mining Sequencing Data for Novel Bt Cry Toxins with CryProcessor
Anton E Shikov1,2, Yury V Malovichko1,2, Rostislav K Skitchenko3
1Laboratory for Proteomics of Supra-Organismal Systems, All-Russia Research Institute for Agricultural Microbiology (ARRIAM), St. Petersburg 196608, Russia.
Toxins
|March 27, 2020
Summary
Researchers developed CryProcessor, a new tool for discovering novel insecticidal toxins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). This bioinformatic tool efficiently mines three-domain Cry (3d-Cry) toxins, addressing limitations of existing methods for sustainable pest control.
Area of Science:
- Biochemistry
- Bioinformatics
- Molecular Biology
Background:
- Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) produces three-domain Cry (3d-Cry) toxins, widely used as host-specific bioinsecticides.
- Increasing pest resistance to existing Bt toxins necessitates the discovery of novel insecticidal compounds.
- Current tools for mining Cry toxins have limitations in accuracy, database size, and query capacity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel, efficient, and user-friendly tool for mining three-domain Cry (3d-Cry) toxins.
- To overcome the limitations of existing Cry toxin mining tools.
- To enable large-scale screening for new insecticidal toxins and specific domain sequences.
Main Methods:
- Development of a robust bioinformatics pipeline, CryProcessor, for precise 3d-Cry toxin mining.
- Implementation of a unique feature to search Cry toxin sequences directly on assembly graphs, analyzing raw sequencing data.
- Capability to predict domain layout in arbitrary sequences for retrieving specific domain sequences.
Main Results:
- CryProcessor demonstrates high efficiency and precision in mining 3d-Cry toxins, outperforming existing analogues on large datasets.
- The tool successfully analyzes raw sequencing data and overcomes issues with fragmented assemblies.
- CryProcessor accurately predicts domain layouts and retrieves specific domain sequences.
Conclusions:
- CryProcessor is a novel, fast, and precise open-source tool for discovering new 3d-Cry toxins.
- Its advanced features facilitate massive screening and in silico experiments for developing artificial toxins.
- The tool offers a console version and a web interface for broad accessibility and application in pest control research.
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