• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.385-391
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• 2006

In Korea, different kinds of genetically modified (GM) crops are under development, including GM-rice expressing insecticidal crystal (Cry) proteins of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) modified to change a single amino acid. In this study, amino acid (aa) sequences of modified Cry proteins were compared to that of known allergens, and Cry proteins expressed in GM-rice were identified by using Cry protein specific polyclonal antibody. The antigen-antibody reactions were compared between GM and commercial rice to assess the allergic risk of Cry proteins. This analysis showed no known allergen to have more than 35% aa sequence homology with modified Cry proteins in Bt rice over an 80 aa window or to have more than 8 consecutive identical aa. Sera from allergic patients showed some IgE reactivity via immunoblotting and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), although no differences were seen between GM and commercial rice. Based on these results we conclude that GM rice with modified Cry proteins has no differences in its protein composition or allergenicity relative to commercial rice.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.157-161
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• 1994

To investigate the morphology of Bacillus thuringiensis crystal proteins, two type crystal protein genes, cryIA(c) gene under the control of cryIA(b) gene promoter and cryIIA gene under the control of its own promoter, were transformed in B. thuringiensis acrystalliferous mutant strain and the transformants were characterized by SDS-PAGE and scanning electron microscopy. The expression and formation of crystal proteins in B. thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki Cry-B revealed that crystal proteins appear to have same molecular weight and morphology to those of wild type strain's, suggesting that the expression and formation of crystal proteins affected not by host cell or recombination of cryIA(e) gene under the control of cryIA(b) gene promoter but by only structural fragment of protoxin.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.1273-1278
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• 2009

This study aimed to evaluate the potential allergenicity of Cry proteins in insect-resistant genetically modified (GM) maizes (Bt11, MON810, and MON863) using serum screening tests. Serum samples were obtained from Korean children (0-15 years old) with allergic symptoms who had positive maize-specific IgE. The levels of serum specific IgE was measured by the Phadia ImmunoCAP system and considered as positive when they are 0.35 kU/L or higher. Cry proteins (Cry1Ab in Bt11, mCry1Ab in MON810, and Cry3Bb1 in MON863) were expressed in Escherichia coli and purified for serum screening. The reactivity of purified Cry proteins was confirmed by IgE immunoblots in 50 patients (maize-sensitized patients). There was no reaction between Cry proteins and sera from maize-sensitized patients. Our results suggest that these Cry proteins are not likely to cause allergic reactions. Further studies using more sera from patients with true clinical allergies are needed to evaluate the potential allergenicity of novel proteins in GM maize.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.23-30
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• 1998

The cryIB, truncated cryIB$[cryIB({\alpha})]$, cryIA(b), and cytA genes, encoding 135-, 89-, 131-, and 27-kDa proteins, respectively, from Bacillus thuringiensis were cloned into a shuttle vector pBES and expressed in E. coli and Bacillus species. The morphology and solubility in alkaline buffer of the insecticidal crystal proteins were investigated. Transformation of intact cells of E. coli and Bacillus species was achieved by electroporation. High field strength of 11.0 kV/cm and resistance of 129 ohms were required for efficient transformation of E. coli strains and 4.5 kV/cm and 48 ohms for Bacillus species. Strains of recombinant E. coli and Bacillus species produced the insecticidal crystal proteins and accumulated as the same bipyramidal and irregular structures as those of CryIB and IA(b) and CytA of B. thuringiensls, respectively. The insecticidal crystal proteins accumulated in recombinant E. coli wire smaller in size than those in recombinant Bacillus species. The solubility in alkaline buffer of the insecticidal crystal proteins of recombinant E. coli increased gradually as the pH increased, whereas in the case of Bacillus species the solubility increased gradually as the pH increased up to 9 and then the solubility increased greatly up to two times higher than that of E. coli proteins.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.133-140
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• 2012

A novel cry2Ab gene was cloned and sequenced from the indigenous isolate of Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki. This gene was designated as cry2Ab25 and its sequence revealed an open reading frame of 1,902 bp encoding a 633 aa protein with calculated molecular mass of 70 kDa and pI value of 8.98. The amino acid sequence of the Cry2Ab25 protein was compared with previously known Cry2Ab toxins, and the phylogenetic relationships among them were determined. The deduced amino acid sequence of the Cry2Ab25 protein showed 99% homology to the known Cry2Ab proteins, except for Cry2Ab10 and Cry2Ab12 with 97% homology, and a variation in one amino acid residue in comparison with all known Cry2Ab proteins. The cry2Ab25 gene was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) cells. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) revealed that the Cry2Ab25 protein is about 70 kDa. The toxin expressed in BL21(DE3) exhibited high toxicity against Malacosoma neustria and Rhagoletis cerasi with 73% and 75% mortality after 5 days of treatment, respectively.

• BMB Reports
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.783-790
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• 2007

Receptor binding plays an important role in determining host specificity of the Bacillus thuringiensis Cry $\delta$-endotoxins. Mutations in domains II and III have suggested the participation of certain residues in receptor recognition and insect specificity. In the present study, we expressed the cloned domain II-III fragment of Cry4Ba and examined its binding characteristics to mosquito-larval midgut proteins. The 43-kDa Cry4Ba-domain II-III protein over-expressed in Escherichia coli as inclusion bodies was only soluble when carbonate buffer, pH 10.0 was supplemented with 4M urea. After renaturation via stepwise dialysis and subsequent purification, the refolded domain II-III protein, which specifically reacts with anti Cry4Ba-domain III monoclonal antibody, predominantly exists as a $\beta$-sheet structure determined by circular dichroism spectroscopy. In vitro binding analysis to both histological midgut tissue sections and brush border membrane proteins prepared from susceptible Aedes aegypti mosquito-larvae revealed that the isolated Cry4Ba-domain II-III protein showed binding functionality comparable to the 65-kDa full-length active toxin. Altogether, the data present the 43-kDa Cry4Ba fragment comprising domains II and III that was produced in isolation was able to retain its receptor-binding characteristics to the target larval midgut proteins.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.1057-1062
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• 2004

The entomopathogenic bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis is the most widely used biopesticide. Insecticidal proteins, coded by genes located in plasmids, form typical parasporal, crystalline inclusions during sporulation. We isolated a Bacillus thuringiensis strain having insecticidal activity against larvae of the house fly (M. domestica) from the soils at a pig farm in Korea, and named it Bacillus thuringiensis SM. The culture filtrate from Bacillus thuringiensis SM showed strong lethality (83.3%) against M. domestica larvae. The parasporal crystal is enclosed within the spores' outermost envelope, as determined by transmission electron microscopy, and exhibited a bipyramidal form. The crystal proteins of strain SM consisted of five proteins with molecular weights of approximately ~130, ~80, ~68, ~42, and ~27 kDa on a 10% SDS-PAGE (major band, a size characteristic of Cry protein). Examination of antibiotic resistance revealed that the strain SM showed multiple resistant. The strain SM had at least three different plasmids with sizes of 6.6, 9.3, and 54 kb. Polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) revealed the presence of cry1, cry4A2, and cry11A1 genes in the strain SM. The cry1 gene profile of the strain SM appeared in the three respective products of 487 bp [cry1A(c)], 414 bp [cry1D], and 238 bp [cry1A(b)]. However, the strain SM has not shown the cry4A2 md cry11A1 genes. In in vivo toxicity assays, the strain SM showed high toxicity on fly larvae (M. domestic) [with $LC_{50}$ of 4.2 mg/ml, $LC_{90}$ of 8.2 mg/ml].

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.1107-1115
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• 2013

The Cyt1Aa protein of Bacillus thuringiensis susbp. israelensis elaborates demonstrable toxicity to mosquito larvae, but more importantly, it enhances the larvicidal activity of this species Cry proteins (Cry11Aa, Cry4Aa, and Cry4Ba) and delays the phenotypic expression of resistance to these that has evolved in Culex quinquefasciatus. It is also known that Cyt1Aa, which is highly lipophilic, synergizes Cry11Aa by functioning as a surrogate membrane-bound receptor for the latter protein. Little is known, however, about whether Cyt1Aa can interact similarly with other Cry proteins not primarily mosquitocidal; for example, Cry2Aa, which is active against lepidopteran larvae, but essentially inactive or has very low toxicity to mosquito larvae. Here we demonstrate by ligand binding and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays that Cyt1Aa and Cry2Aa form intermolecular complexes in vitro, and in addition show that Cyt1Aa facilitates binding of Cry2Aa throughout the midgut of C. quinquefasciatus larvae. As Cry2Aa and Cry11Aa share structural similarity in domain II, the interaction between Cyt1Aa and Cry2Aa could be a result of a similar mechanism previously proposed for Cry11Aa and Cyt1Aa. Finally, despite the observed interaction between Cry2Aa and Cyt1Aa, only a 2-fold enhancement in toxicity resulted against C. quinquefasciatus. Regardless, our results suggest that Cry2Aa could be a useful component of mosquitocidal endotoxin complements being developed for recombinant strains of B. thuringiensis subsp. israelensis and B. sphaericus aimed at improving the efficacy of commercial products and avoiding resistance.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.199-204
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• 2009

The newly cloned Bacillus thuringiensis cry1-5 gene showed high activity to both Plutella xylostella and Spodoptera exigua, while cry1Ac only showed high activity against P. xylostella but low to S. exigua. Through the alignment of amino acid sequences between Cry1Ac and Cry1-5, we found 12 different residues in domain I (6 residues) and domain II (6 residues). In this study, the modified cry1Ac gene, which is constructed according to a crop-preferring codon usage, was used as a template to construct mutant B. thuringiensis cry1Ac genes based on cry1-5 gene through multi site-directed mutagenesis. Total 63 various mutant cry genes were obtained at 12 positions randomly. Among them, ten mutant cry genes, whose domain I was totally converted and domain II was randomly, were selected to express in baculovirus expression system as a polyhedrin fusion form. The recombinant proteins were 95 kDa in size and were stably activated as 65 kDa by trypsin. The expressed mutant Cry proteins were applied to bioassays against P. xylostella and S. exigua. All mutants showed high insecticidal activity both to P. xylostella and S. exigua similar to cry1-5. These results suggest that these mutant cry genes might be expected of desirable cry genes for introduction to transgenic crops.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.15-20
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• 2007

To clone novel cry1-type genes from the Bacillus thuringiensis K1 isolate, about 2.4-kb-long PCR fragments were amplified with two primer sets of ATG1-F/N400-R and 1BeATG1-F/N400-R. Using PCR-RFLP, three novel cry1-type genes, cry1-1, cry1-7, and cry1-44, were obtained from B. thuringiensis K1 and the complete coding sequences of these novel genes were analyzed. The Cry1-1, Cry1-7, and Cry1-44 proteins showed maximum similarities of about 78.0%, 99.7%, and 91.0% with the Cry1Ha1, Cry1Be1, and Cry1Ac2 proteins, respectively. These novel cry1-type genes were expressed using a baculovirus expression vector system and their insecticidal activities were investigated. Whereas all three novel genes were toxic to Plutella xylostella larvae, only Cry1-1 showed insecticidal activity against Spodoptera exigua larvae.