Assignment of the crystal toxin genes of the mosquitocidal bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis to a specific plasmid

Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis 4Q1-WT and the prepared mutants, 4Q1-72 and 4Q1-81 were bioassayed against Aedes caspius larvae. The strain -4Q1-WT, which contains all plasmid arrys and the strain 4Q1-72 which contains the 108 kb plasmid gave 100% mortality, while stain 4Q1-81 which contains no plasmids gave 0% mortality. Crystals from all tested strains were isolated, solubilized and characterized using PAGE to detect any homology or difference in crystal production, properties, and the relatedness to the plasmid profile.