• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.189-201
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• 1976

In an effort to develop a microbial in secticide, B. thdringiensis var. thuringiensis was cultured in the medium composed of cocoon-cooked water from a filature. The results obtained are summarized as followss : (1) Bacillus thuringiensis is a bacterium producing a ${\delta}-endotoxin$ especially toxic to lepidopterous insects and a thermostable exotoxin harmful to dipterous insects. (2) With a view to utilizing the cocoon-cooked water discarded from the filature, as a nutrient source in the B. thuingiensis culture, it was analyzed to contain large amounts of various minerals and protein (7.5 mg/ml) believed to be extracted from the pupae. (3) A large amount of the ${\delta}-endotoxin$ can be obtained most cheeply by using cocoon-cooked water instead of distilled water in preparing GYS and citrate salts media. (4) The largest amount of a mixture of the vegetative cells, spores, and crystals was obtained by addition of 8 gr/l of glucose to the GYS medium. (5) The growth of the bacterium was far better, when leucine, isoleucine, and valine were added all together to the citrate salts medium to the concentration of $1.25{\times}10^{-3}M$. (6) The best growth was observed by addition of Na-glutamate to the citrate salts medium to the concentration of $2.5{\times}10^{-3}M$. (7) The optimal culture time ranged from 9 to 15 days. (8) The highest mortality was shown in Pieris rapae Linne with a pH of the total body extract of 8.4, whereas Dendrolimus spectabilis Butler and Bombyx mori Linne with lower pH's were less susceptible to the ${\delta}-endotoxin$. (9) The presence of the thermo stable exotoxin was confirmed by the fact that the supernatant of the culture was very toxic to the Drosophila melanogaster tested.