Cloning and expression of the lepidopteran toxin produced by Bacillus thuringiensis var. thuringiensis in Escherichia coli

The Bacillus thuringiensis var. thuringiensis strain 3A produces a proteinaceous parasporal crystal toxic to larvae of a variety of lepidopteran pests including Spodoptera littoralis (Egyptian cotton leaf worm), Heliothis zeae, H. virescens and Boarmia selenaria. By cloning of individual plasmids of B. thuringiensis in Escherichia coli, we localized a gene coding for the delta-endotoxin on the B. thuringiensis plasmid of about 17 kb designated pTN4. Following partial digestion of the B. thuringiensis plasmid pTN4 and cloning into the E. coli pACYC184 plasmid three clones were isolated in which toxin production was detected. One of these hybrid plasmids pTNG43 carried a 1.7-kb insert that hybridized to the 14-kb BamHI DNA fragments of B. thuringiensis var. thuringiensis strains 3A and berliner 1715. This BamHI DNA fragment of strain berliner 1715 has been shown to contain the gene that codes for the toxic protein of the crystal (Klier et al., 1982). No homologous sequences have been found between pTNG33 and the DNA of B. thuringiensis var. entomocidus strain 24, which exhibited insecticidal activity against S. littoralis similar to that of strain 3A.