Abstract
Around two hundred pesticidal toxin genes have been cloned from a wide range of Bacillus thuringiensis strains. The encoded toxins currently fall into eighty distinct classes, although both the total number of toxins, and the number of classes continue to increase as new toxins are discovered. Despite the large number of classes almost ninety percent of the toxins contain conserved sequence motifs, and are believed to have similar structures. Comparing the toxins’ amino acid sequences has resulted in the development of a rigorous nomenclature and allowed correlation’s to be made between the sequence, the activity of the toxin, and its evolutionary origin.
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Crickmore, N. (2000). The diversity of Bacillus thuringiensis δ-endotoxins. In: Charles, JF., Delécluse, A., Roux, C.NL. (eds) Entomopathogenic Bacteria: from Laboratory to Field Application. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1429-7_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1429-7_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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