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Characterization of Cry4Aa Toxin from Bacillus thuringiensis JW-1 and Its Insecticidal Activity Against Bradysia
Ping Xu1, Shaoxuan Qu1, Jinsheng Lin1
1Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Horticultural Crop Genetic Improvement, Institute of Vegetable Crops, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing 210014, China.
Abstract:
Bradysia difformis is a notorious pest in mushroom production in China. Biological control using Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) offers an environmentally friendly and effective strategy against this pest. Here, we show that the complete genome of strain JW-1 consists of one circular chromosome and seven circular plasmids. JW-1-Plasmid 4 comprises 127,921 bp with a GC content of 33.9%, and is predicted to contain 131 genes, including six insecticidal genes: cry4Aa, cry4Ba, cry10Ab, cry11Aa, cyt1Aa, and cyt2Ba. A 3542-bp fragment containing the cry4Aa gene was amplified from this strain. Phylogenetic analysis based on Cry4 toxin sequences showed that JW-1 Cry4 toxin belongs to the Cry4Aa toxin cluster. A Cry4Aa fusion protein was subsequently expressed in E. coli and purified using Ni-IDA affinity chromatography. A larval feeding assay showed that purified Cry4Aa was toxic to B. difformis larvae, with an LC50 of 2.71 ng/mL. These results confirmed the identity and bioactivity of Cry4Aa from strain JW-1, offering a promising biological control agent against this major pest.
