Spherical parasporal inclusions of the lepidoptera-specific and coleoptera-specific Bacillus thuringiensis strains: a comparative electron microscopic study.

Four Lepidoptera-specific Bacillus thuringiensis strains that belong to the four H serogroups (serovars sumiyoshiensis, fukuokaensis, darmstadiensis, and japonensis) and a Coleoptera (Scarabaeidae)-specific strain belonging to serovar japonensis were examined for comparative ultrastructure of spherical parasporal inclusions. The prominent feature of the inclusions of the Lepidoptera-specific strains was the existence of thick, highly electron-dense envelopes surrounding a homogeneous protein matrix. The envelopes were 15.0-66.7 nm thick and consisted of 5-12 layers of membrane. This is also the case with inclusions of a Coleoptera-specific strain. The ultrastructure of inclusions from the five strains was in marked contrast to that of the bipyramidal parasporal inclusions produced by a Lepidoptera-specific serovar sotto strain.