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How Bacillus thuringiensis has evolved specific toxins to colonize the insect world

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-07, 23:47 authored by Ruud A de Maagd, Alejandra Bravo, Neil CrickmoreNeil Crickmore
Bacillus thuringiensis is a bacterium of great agronomic and scientific interest. Together the subspecies of this bacterium colonize and kill a large variety of host insects and even nematodes, but each strain does so with a high degree of specificity. This is mainly determined by the arsenal of crystal proteins that the bacterium produces during sporulation. Here we describe the properties of these toxin proteins and the current knowledge of the basis for their specificity. Assessment of phylogenetic relationships of the three domains of the active toxin and experimental results indicate how sequence divergence in combination with domain swapping by homologous recombination might have caused this extensive range of specificities.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Trends in Genetics

ISSN

0168-9525

Issue

4

Volume

17

Page range

193-199

Pages

7.0

Department affiliated with

  • Biochemistry Publications

Notes

Co-author

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

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