Abstract

Seven bacterial isolates from Ghana, IAB 763, IAB 769-1, IAB 769-2, IAB 774, IAB 871, IAB 872, IAB 881, are characterized as Bacillus sphaericus strains highly toxic to mosquito larvae. Most of them belong to serotype H6, except for IAB 881 and IAB 872, which belong pesrespectively to serotypes H3 and H48. Phenotypic characters of all these strains are identical to those of strains 2362 (serotype H5) and IAB 59 (serotype H6), used for comparison. Five strains out of seven produce final whole cultures and alkali-solubilized toxins, which have very high potency against Culex pipiens larvae. Their larvicidal power is similar to that of strains 2362 and IAB 59. By using polyclonal antibodies raised against 42- and 56-kDa toxic polypeptides of strain 2362, Western-blot of the alkali-solubilized toxins of these new five strains showed homologies. It is the first time that strains belonging to serotypes H3 and H48 have been found pathogenic to mosquito larvae, thus increasing to eight the number of toxic serotypes of B. sphaericus.

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