Toxin stability improvement and toxicity increase against dipteran and lepidopteran larvae of Bacillus thuringiensis crystal protein Cry2Aa

Abstract

Background: Bacillus thuringiensis δ-endotoxins are the most widely used biopesticides for controlling economically important crop pests and disease vectors. Improving their efficacy is of great benefit. Here, an improvement in Cry2Aa δ-endotoxin toxicity was attempted via a cry gene over expression system using P20 from B. thuringiensis israelensis.

Results: The coexpression of Cry2Aa with P20 resulted in a seven fold increase in its production yield in B. thuringiensis. Generated crystals proved to be significantly more toxic (505.207 µg g^-1 , 1.99 mg L^-1 and 1.49 mg L^-1 ) than the P20-lacking control (720.78 µg g^-1 , 705.69 mg L^-1 and 508.51 mg L^-1 ) against Ephestia kuehniella, Aedes aegypti and Culex pipiens larvae respectively. In vitro, processing experiments revealed a P20-mediated protection of Cry2Aa against degradation under larval gut conditions. Thus, P20 could promote the maintenance of a tightly packaged conformation of Cry2Aa toxins in the larval midgut upon correct activation and binding to its membrane receptors.

Conclusion: Based on their resistance against excessive proteolysis, Cry2Aa δ-endotoxins, produced in the presence of P20, could be considered as a successful control agent for E. kuehniella and an effective alternative for mosquito control, implying its possible exploitation in pest management programmes. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Keywords: Cry2Aa toxin; P20 helper protein; larvicidal activity improvement; protection against excessive proteolysis.