Construction of Novel Bacillus thuringiensis Strains with Different Insecticidal Activities by Transduction and Transformation.

The shuttle vector pHT3101 and its derivative pHT408, bearing a copy of a cryIA(a) delta-endotoxin gene, were transferred into several Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies through phage CP-54Ber-mediated transduction, with frequencies ranging from 5 x 10 to 2 x 10 transductant per CFU, depending on the strain and on the plasmid. In Cry and Cry native recipients, the introduction of the cryIA(a) gene resulted in the formation of large bipyramidal crystals that were active against the insect Plutella xylostella (order Lepidoptera). In both cases, high levels of gene expression were observed.

Acrofacial dysostoses.

A female baby was born with phocomelia, bilateral cleft lip and palate, marked micrognathia, malar hypoplasia, absence of lower eyelids, and absence of external ears. Radiological examination showed hypoplastic pectoral and pelvic girdles, short humeri and femora, with absence of forearms and legs, and oligodactyly of upper limbs. Her mother has triphalangism of the left thumb and a hypoplastic right thumb with stiff metacarpophalangeal joint.

[Isolated and transient hyperphosphatasemia in young children].

This report concerns a transient and isolated hyperphosphatasemia in a 33 month-old infant. Such a case is asymptomatic and benign. There is an important increase in enzymatic activity which includes both fractions (bone and liver).

A Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis gene encoding a 125-kilodalton larvicidal polypeptide is associated with inverted repeat sequences.

A gene encoding a 125-kilodalton (kDa) mosquitocidal delta-endotoxin was cloned from the 72-MDa resident plasmid of Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis. This gene is similar in its 3' region to the gene encoding the 135-kDa protein previously cloned (C.

Recent aspects of genetic manipulation in Bacillus thuringiensis.

The conjugative plasmid pAM beta 1 was transferred from Streptococcus faecalis to several strains of Bacillus thuringiensis by a filter-mating process. From a transconjugant clone of B. thuringiensis a hybrid plasmid resulting from an in vivo insertion into pAM beta 1 of a 3 Md DNA sequence was isolated.