A novel isolate of Bacillus thuringiensis serovar leesis that specifically exhibits larvicidal activity against the moth-fly, Telmatoscopus albipunctatus

A soil isolate designated 88-KO-14-45, belonging to Bacillus thuringiensis serovar leesis (H33), exhibited larvicidal activity against the moth-fly; Telmatoscopus albipunctatus (Diptera: Psychodidae), but not for larvae of the culicine and aedine mosquitoes and Lepidoptera. Purified parasporal inclusions had an LC50 value of 5.78 mu g/ml for the larval moth-fly but gave no mortality against larvae elf Culex pipiens molestus (Diptera: Culicidae) at protein concentrations up to 10 mg/ml. Electron microscopic observations revealed that the parasporal inclusions are homogeneous round shaped bodies enclosed with thick, electron dense envelopes. Haemolytic activity against sheep erythrocytes was nor detected in the solubilized inclusions. SDS-PAGE showed that the inclusions are composed of 72, 68, 56, and 30 kDa proteins. Immunologically these proteins were unrelated to the inclusion proteins of B. thuringiensis serovar israelensis, while a 70 kDa protein of the strain 73-E-10-2 (B. thuringiensis serovar darmstadiensis) was seroactive to antibodies against proteins of 88-KO-14-45.