Bt Toxin Mini Report
Bacillus thuringiensis
Bacillus thuringiensis is a universal, gram-positive, vegetative, spore-forming bacterium that is rod shaped and varies between 2–5 µm long and about 1.0 µm wide . Bt consists large rods with slightly curved ends and forms a parasporal crystal during the stationary phase of its growth cycle . Occurring in pairs or short chains, Bt is also motile with peritrichous flagella and non-caspulated .
Bt belongs to the family of bacteria, Bacillus cerus (B. cerus), which produces toxins that cause gastroenteritis (food poisoning) in humans. However, Bt is different than B. cerus because it contains a plasmid that produces protein crystals that are toxic to insects instead of causing food poisoning .
Indigenous to many environments, Bt is found in many terrains such as soils, insects, stored-product dust and deciduous and coniferous trees . They are also thousands of different Bt strains, producing over 200 cry proteins that are active against a variety of insects.
Bt is a unique bacterium because of commonality places it shares with a number of chemical compounds. These compounds are used commercially to control insects that are important to agriculture and public health. On the other hand, Bt is safe for humans and is the most widely used environmentally compatible bio pesticide worldwide. Now, Bt genes have been incorporated in several crops, providing a model for genetic engineering in agriculture ideal .
Scientists discovered this bacterium in 1901 when Japanese biologist, Shigetane Ishiwatari first isolated the bacterium Bt as the cause of the sotto disease (sudden-collapse disease) that was killing large populations of silkworms . Ten years later, Ernst Berliner rediscovered Bt because it was used as a pathogen of flour moths in Thuringia, Germany. He named the bacterium after the town Thuringia, Germany even though it was named Bacillus sotto in 1901. Berliner also discovered the existence of a crystal within Bt in 1915, but it was
Bacillus thuringiensis is a universal, gram-positive, vegetative, spore-forming bacterium that is rod shaped and varies between 2–5 µm long and about 1.0 µm wide . Bt consists large rods with slightly curved ends and forms a parasporal crystal during the stationary phase of its growth cycle . Occurring in pairs or short chains, Bt is also motile with peritrichous flagella and non-caspulated .
Bt belongs to the family of bacteria, Bacillus cerus (B. cerus), which produces toxins that cause gastroenteritis (food poisoning) in humans. However, Bt is different than B. cerus because it contains a plasmid that produces protein crystals that are toxic to insects instead of causing food poisoning .
Indigenous to many environments, Bt is found in many terrains such as soils, insects, stored-product dust and deciduous and coniferous trees . They are also thousands of different Bt strains, producing over 200 cry proteins that are active against a variety of insects.
Bt is a unique bacterium because of commonality places it shares with a number of chemical compounds. These compounds are used commercially to control insects that are important to agriculture and public health. On the other hand, Bt is safe for humans and is the most widely used environmentally compatible bio pesticide worldwide. Now, Bt genes have been incorporated in several crops, providing a model for genetic engineering in agriculture ideal .
Scientists discovered this bacterium in 1901 when Japanese biologist, Shigetane Ishiwatari first isolated the bacterium Bt as the cause of the sotto disease (sudden-collapse disease) that was killing large populations of silkworms . Ten years later, Ernst Berliner rediscovered Bt because it was used as a pathogen of flour moths in Thuringia, Germany. He named the bacterium after the town Thuringia, Germany even though it was named Bacillus sotto in 1901. Berliner also discovered the existence of a crystal within Bt in 1915, but it was
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