Publications by authors named "Quanxin Cai"

Advances in technology have greatly stimulated the understanding of insect-specific viruses (ISVs). Unfortunately, most of these findings are based on sequencing technology, and laboratory data are scarce on the transmission dynamics of ISVs in nature and the potential effects of these viruses on arboviruses. Mesonivirus is a class of ISVs with a wide geographical distribution.

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Propoxur-sel strains of were derived from a lab-bred strain following 16 generations of propoxur exposure under sublethal concentrations of LC (lethal concentration of 25%) and LC (lethal concentration of 50%), respectively. This resulted in resistance development in F16 with ratios of 8.8× and 6.

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DegS and DegU make up a two component system belonging to a class of signal transduction systems that play important roles in a broad range of bacterial responses to the environment. However, little study has been done to explore the physiological functions of DegS-DegU in mosquitocidal Lysinibacillus sphaericus. In this study, it was found that deletion of degU or degS-degU inhibited the swarming motility, biofilm formation, sporulation and binary toxin production through regulating the related genes, and phosphorylation was necessary for the functions of DegU.

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Stable maintenance of the low-copy-number plasmid pBsph in Bacillus sphaericus requires a partitioning (par) system that consists of a filament-forming protein, B. sphaericus TubZ (TubZ-Bs); a centromere-binding protein, TubR-Bs; and a centromere-like DNA site, tubC, composed of three blocks (I, II, and III) of 12-bp degenerate repeats. Previous studies have shown that mini-pBsph replicons encoding the TubZ system are segregationally highly unstable, whereas the native pBsph is stably maintained.

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pBsph is a mosquitocidal plasmid first identified from Bacillus sphaericus, encoding binary toxins (Bin toxins) that are highly toxic to mosquito larvae. This plasmid plays an important role in the maintenance and evolution of the bin genes in B. sphaericus.

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The entomopathogen Bacillus sphaericus is one of the most effective biolarvicides used to control the Culex species of mosquito. The appearance of resistance in mosquitoes to this bacterium, however, remains a threat to its continuous use in integrated mosquito control programs. Previous work showed that the resistance to B.

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The occurrences of Bacillus cereus group strains in 40 ice cream samples were investigated. Among 109 isolated B. cereus group strains confirmed by 16S rDNA sequence analysis only 50 were identified as B.

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Bacillus anthracis, the etiologic agent of anthrax, is genetically close to and commonly shares a giant gene pool with B. cereus and B. thuringiensis.

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Mosquitocidal toxin 1 (Mtx1) was synthesized during vegetative phase of Bacillus sphaericus and it had been proved to have higher activity to Aedes spp. larvae and Binary toxin (Bin) resistance Culex larvae. The truncated 97 kDa Mtx1 with a deletion of the signal peptide and the Cyt1 Aa crystal protein, a 27.

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Bacillus thuringiensis has been successfully used for agricultural pest and medical insect control with its significant benefits based on environmental and safety considerations. However, the deficiency of this pesticide, such as limited spectrum of insecticidal activity, low toxicity to the targets and the inducement of insect resistance, results in the urgent need to exploit new resources of B. thuringiensis or to modify known strains by genetic engineering.

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The toxicities of Mtx1 toxin against dipteran and lepidopteran species have been evaluated in this study. It was shown that Mtx1 has little or no toxicity to the tested lepidopteran species, but has moderate-level toxicity to Aedes albopictus Skuse (Diptera: Culicidae) and high-level toxicity to both susceptible and binary toxin-resistant Culex quinquefasciatus Say (Diptera: Culicidae). The LC(50) values of Mtx1 against a susceptible C.

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We studied the toxicity and delayed effects of a mosquitocidal toxin (Mtx1) and a binary toxin (Bin) produced in Escherchia coli E-TH21 and Bacillus thuringiensis B-CW1, respectively, on Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae). Bioassay results showed that both E-TH21 powder and B-CW1 sporulated culture were highly toxic against susceptible Cx. quinquefasciatus, with LC50 values of 0.

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