Determination and distribution of cry-type genes in halophilc Bacillus thuringiensis isolates of Arabian Sea sedimentary rocks

Bacillus thuringiensis produces insecticidal crystal during its sporulation phase. In this study, marine sediments from Arabian Sea along coastal area of Pakistan were examined for the occurrence of B. thuringiensis. On the basis of morphological and biochemical properties, 31 out of 200 colonies were assigned to B. thuringiensis. Isolated strains were characterized on the basis of cry genes profile. PCR approach was used to analyze the presence of different crystal toxin encoding genes with six pairs of universal primers that could detect the cry1, cry4, cry7, cry8, cry9, and cry10 genes. Strains containing cry1 genes were the most abundant in our collection (49.5%). Seventeen different profiles of cry genes were identified, i.e., twelve harboring two cry genes while five profiles of more than two cry genes. The characterization of these strains provided useful information on the ecological patterns of distribution of B. thuringiensis and opportunities for the selection of new strains to develop novel bio-insecticidal products. (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier GmbH.