Identification and characterization of a new cry-like gene found in a Bacillus cereus strain

Bacillus thuringiensis is the most successful microbial insecticide against different pests in agriculture and vectors of diseases. Its activity is mostly attributed to the Cry proteins expressed during its sporulation phase. However, these proteins are not exclusive to B. thuringiensis. Some cry genes have been found in other Bacillus species, or even in other genera. In this work, cry genes were searched in 223 acrystalliferous bacillaceous strains. From these strains 13 amplicons were obtained, cloned, and sequenced; however, only 6 amplicons tested positive for cry-like genes, and the 6 isolates showed to be the same strain. We report the characterization of an unusual strain of B. cereus (LBIC-004) which is unable to form protein inclusions during the sporulation phase. LBIC-004 showed a high identity to B. cereus using the sequences of 16S rRNA, gyrB and hag genes; in addition, a unique plasmid pattern of the strain was obtained. A 1953-bp cry gene was identified, coding for a 651 amino acid protein with a molecular weight of 74.9 kDa. This protein showed a predicted three-domain structure, similar to all Cry proteins. However, the amino acid sequence of the protein showed only 41% identity its highest hit: the Cry8Ca1 protein, indicating the uniqueness of this cry-like gene. It was cloned and transferred into a mutant acrystalliferous B. thuringiensis strain which was used in bioassays against Caenorhabditis elegans, Aedes aegypti, Manduca sexta and Phyllophaga sp. The recombinant strain showed no crystal formation and no toxicity to the tested species.