Ecology, toxicity, and hydrolytic activities of Bacillus thuringiensis in forests

The investigation of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) in 16 forest soil samples from Ajloun, northern Jordan, involved the isolation of 23 isolates toxic to the third instar dipteran larvae of Drosophila melanogaster and 7 isolates toxic to the third instar lepidopteran larvae of Ephestia kuehniella. The highest viable count of Bt was found in Ebeen forest soils (14.24 × 107 CFU g-1), and the lowest viable count was found in Rasoun forest soils. The lethal concentration (LC50) of Bt isolates indicated a variation in their toxicity to D. melanogaster and E. kuehniella larvae, with lower LC50 values for D. melanogaster suggesting that D. melanogaster larvae are more susceptible to Bt toxins than E. kuehniella larvae. Serotyping of the 23 isolates toxic to D. melanogaster revealed that they belonged to 5 serotypes, including israelensis, kenyae, kurstaki, malaysiensis, and morrisoni. Serotype israelensis was the most dominant. The isolates toxic to E. kuehniella larvae belonged to serotype kurstaki and produced both bipyramidal and cuboidal parasporal crystals. It was observed that isolates producing toxic spherical parasporal crystals were the most abundant in the forest soils. Hydrolytic activities of Bt isolates recovered from forests were varied due to differences in their enzyme productivity. Most isolates had carboxymethylcellulase, amylase, lipase, and gelatinase activity, while pectinase activity was observed in only a few isolates. Maceration activity of the isolates to potato samples was more frequent than to carrot samples. The larvicidal and hydrolytic activities of tested Bt isolates demonstrated that a forest environment can be categorized as a rich source for Bt isolates that can be used in biological control and plant residue biodegradation. As a result, it is expected that Bt recovered from forests can be used to increase soil fertility and to enhance plant growth as well as productivity.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Key words: Ecology, enzyme, forest, larvicidal, maceration, thuringiensis

Ecology, toxicity, and hydrolytic activities of Bacillus thuringiensis in forests

Keywords:

enzyme, forest, larvicidal, maceration, thuringiensis, Ecology,

PDF

___

Abbott WS (1925) A method of computing the effectiveness of insecticides. J Econ Entomol 18: 265–267.
Almomani F, Obeidat M, Saadoun I, Meqdam M (2004) Serotyping of Bacillus thuringiensis isolates, their distribution in different Jordanian habitats and pathogenicity in Drosophila melanogaster. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 20: 749–753.
Ammouneh H, Harba M, Idris E, Makee H (2011) Isolation and characterization of native Bacillus thuringiensis isolates from Syrian soil and testing of their insecticidal activities against some insect pests. Turk J Agric For 35: 421–431.
Aneja KR (2003) Experiments in Microbiology, Plant Pathology and Biotechnology. Fourth edition. New Age International Publishers, New Delhi, India, pp. 253–255.
Atlas RM, Parks LC, Brown AE (1995) Laboratory Manual of Experimental Microbiology. Mosby–Year Book, Inc., St Louis, Missouri, USA.
Bayoumi RA, Yassin HM, Swelim MA, Abdel-All EZ (2008) Production of bacterial pectinase(s) from agro-industrial wastes under solid state fermentation conditions. J Appl Sci Res 4: 1708–1721.
Bizzarri MF, Bishop AH (2008) The ecology of Bacillus thuringiensis on the Phylloplane: colonization from soil, plasmid transfer, and interaction with larvae of Pieris brassicae. Microb Ecol 56: 133–139.
Carder JH (1986) Detection and quantitation of cellulase by Congo red staining of substrates in a cup-plate diffusion assay. Anal Biochem 15: 375–379.
Cinar C, Apaydin O, Yenidunya AF, Harsa S, Gunes H (2008) Isolation and characterization of Bacillus thuringiensis strains from olive related habitats in Turkey. J Appl Microbiol 104: 515–525.
Crickmore N, Zeigler DR, Bravo A, Schnepf E, Lereclus D, Baum J, Van Rie J, Dean DH (2012) Bacillus thuringiensis toxin nomenclature. Available at http://www.lifesci.sussex.ac.uk/
Home/Neil_Crickmore/Bt. de Barjac H, Bonnefoi A (1973) Mise au point sur la classification des
Bacillus thuringiensis. Entomophage 18: 5–17. Delpech R (2000) Simple and affordable scientific investigations with the bacterial plant pathogen E. carotovora. J Biol Educ 34: 155–160.
De Respinis S, Demarta A, Patocchi N, Luthy P, Peduzzi R, Tonolla M (2006) Molecular identification of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis to trace its fate after application as a biological insecticide in wetland ecosystems. Lett Appl Microbiol 43: 495–501.
Dronina MA, Revina LP, Kostina LI, Ganushkina LA, Zalunin IA, Chestukhina GG (2006) Toxin-binding proteins from midgut epithelium membranes of Anopheles stephensi larvae. Biochemistry (Mosc) 71: 133–139.
Dulmage H, Aizawa K (1982) Distribution of Bacillus thuringiensis in nature. In: Microbial and Viral Pesticides (Ed. E Kurstak). New
York, Marcel Dekker, Inc., pp. 209–237. Feitelson J (1993) The Bacillus thuringiensis family tree. In: Advanced
Engineered Pesticides (Ed. L Kim). New York, Marcel Dekker, Inc., pp. 63–72. Gomes DJ, Hasan MF, Rahman MM (2002) Screening for α-amylase producing thermophilic fungi recovered from natural decomposing lignocellulosic materials. Dhaka Univ J Biol Sci 11: 39–48.
Hastowo S, Lay BW, Ohba M (1992) Natural occurring Bacillus thuringiensis in Indonesia. J Appl Bacteriol 73: 108–113.
Karamanlidou G, Lambropoulos A, Koliais S, Manousis T, Ellar D, Kastritsis C (1991) Toxicity of Bacillus thuringiensis to laboratory populations of the olive fruit fly (Dacus oleae). Appl Environ Microbiol 57: 2277–2282.
Konecka E, Kaznowski A, Ziemnicka J, Ziemnicki K (2007) Molecular and phenotypic characterisation of Bacillus thuringiensis isolated during epizootics in Cydia pomonella L. J Invertebr Pathol 94: 56–63.
Landen R, Bryne M, Abdel-Hameed A (1993) Distribution of Bacillus thuringiensis strain in southern Sweden. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 10: 45–50.
Laurent P, Ripouteau H, Cosmao Dumanior V, Frachon E, Lecadet M (1996) A micromethod for serotyping Bacillus thuringiensis. Lett Appl Microbiol 22: 259–261.
Lecadet M, Frachon E, Cosmao Dumanoir V, Ripouteau H, Hamon S, Laurent P, Thiery I (1999) Updating the H-antigen classification of Bacillus thuringiensis. J Appl Microbiol 86: 660–672.
Martin P, Travers R (1989) Worldwide abundance and distribution of Bacillus thuringiensis isolates. Appl Environ Microbiol 55: 2437–2442.
Meadows M, Ellis D, Butt J, Jarrett P, Burges H (1992) Distribution, frequency, and diversity of Bacillus thuringiensis in an animal feed mill. Appl Environ Microbiol 58: 1344–1350.
Obeidat M, Almomani F, Saadoun I (2000) Diversity of Bacillus thuringiensis in different habitats of northern Jordan. J Basic Microbiol 40: 385–388.
Ohba M, Aizawa K (1986) Distribution of Bacillus thuringiensis in soils of Japan. J Invert Pathol 47: 277–282.
Perombelon MC, Gullings J, Kelman J (1979) Population dynamics of E. carotovora and pectolytic Clostridium spp. in relation to decay of potatoes. Phytopathol 69: 167–173.
Saadoun I, Al-Momani F, Obeidat M, Meqdam M, Elbetieha A (2001) Assessment of toxic potential of local Jordanian Bacillus thuringiensis strains on Drosophila melanogaster and Culex sp. (Diptera). J Appl Microbiol 90: 866–872.
Sanchis V, Chaufaux J, Lereclus D (1996) Amélioration biotechnologique de Bacillus thuringiensis: les enjeux et les risques. Ann Inst Pasteur/Actualités 7: 271–284.
Schnepf E, Crickmore N, Rie J, Lereculus D, Baum J, Feitelson J, Zeigler D, Dean D (1998) Bacillus thuringiensis and its pesticidal crystal proteins. Microbiol Molec Biol Rev 62: 775– 80
Sigurgísladóttir S, Konráðsdóttir M, Jónsson A, Kristjánsson JK, Matthiasson E (1993) Lipase activity of thermophilic bacteria from Icelandic hot springs. Biotech Lett 15: 361–366.
Smith R, Couche G (1991) The phylloplane as a source of Bacillus thuringiensis variants. Appl Environ Microbiol 57: 311–315.
Soberon M, Fernandez LE, Perez C, Gill SS, Bravo A (2007) Mode of action of mosquitocidal Bacillus thuringiensis toxins. Toxicon 49: 597–600.
Travers R, Martin P, Reichelderfer C (1987) Selective process for efficient isolation of soil Bacillus spp. Appl Environ Microbiol 53: 1263–1266.