Environmental Microbiology (2016) 18, 846-862

Donghai Peng, Jian Lin, Qiong Huang, Wen Zheng, Guoqiang Liu, Jinshui Zheng, Lei Zhu and Ming Sun (2016)
A novel metalloproteinase virulence factor is involved in Bacillus thuringiensis pathogenesis in nematodes and insects
Environmental Microbiology 18 (3), 846-862
Abstract: The Gram-positive soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis has been developed as the leading microbial insecticide for years. The pathogenesis of B. thuringiensis requires common extracellular factors that depend on the PlcR regulon, which regulates a large number of virulence factors; however, the precise role of many of these proteins is not known. In this study, we describe the complete lifecycle of a nematicidal B. thuringiensis strain in the free living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans using in vitro and in vivo molecular techniques to follow host and bacterial effectors during the infection process. We then focus on the metalloproteinase ColB, a collagenase, which was found highly important for destruction of the intestine thereby facilitates the adaptation and colonization of B. thuringiensis in C. elegans. In vivo green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter-gene studies showed that ColB expression is highly induced and regulated by the global activator PlcR. Finally, we demonstrated that ColB also takes part in B. thuringiensis virulence in an insect model following injection and oral infection. Indeed, addition of purified ColB accelerates the action of Cry toxin proteins in insects, too. These results give novel insights into host adaptation for B. thuringiensis and other B. cereus group bacteria and highlight the role of collagenase metalloproteases to synergize infection process.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Ming Sun

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
molecular biology - genes

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
Bacillus thuringiensis (antagonist)