Identification of a biomarker for Bacillus thuringiensis strains with high toxicity against Spodoptera frugiperda based on insecticidal gene linkage analysis

Abstract BACKGROUND Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a Gram‐positive bacterium that produces various insecticidal proteins used to control insect pests. Spodoptera frugiperda is a global insect pest which causes serious damage to crops, but bio‐insecticides currently available to control this pest have limited activity and so new ones are always being sought. In this study we have tested the hypothesis that a biomarker for strain toxicity could be found that would greatly facilitate the identification of new potential products. RESULTS Using genomic sequencing data we constructed a linkage network of insecticidal genes from 1957 Bt genomes and found that four gene families, namely cry1A , cry1I , cry2A and vip3A , showed strong linkage. For 95 strains isolated from soil samples we assayed them for toxicity towards S. frugiperda and for the presence of the above gene families. All of the strains that showed high toxicity also contained a member of the vip3A gene family. Two of them were more toxic than a commercially available strain and genomic sequencing identified a number of potentially novel toxin‐encoding genes. CONCLUSIONS The presence of a vip3A gene in the genome of a Bt strain proved to be a strong indicator of toxicity towards S. frugiperda validating this biomarker approach as a strategy for future discovery programs. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.