Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. sichuansis strain MC28 produces a novel crystal protein with activity against Culex quinquefasciatus larvae.

The Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. sichuansis MC28 strain produces spherical parasporal crystals during sporulation and exhibits remarkable insecticidal activity against dipteran and lepidopteran pests. We characterized a novel cry gene (cry69Aa1), which was found in the pMC95 plasmid of the MC28 strain. The cry69Aa1 gene was inserted into a shuttle vector (pSTK) and expressed in an acrystalliferous mutant B. thuringiensis HD73⁻. In this transformant, a large number of spherical parasporal crystals, which were toxic to Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera), were formed.