Bacillus Sphaericus: Mechanism and Application as a Mosquito Larvicide

Characterization of Antibacterial Peptides in Culex pipiens (Diptera: Culicidae) in Response to Bacillus sphaericus infection

“…It is important to note that unlike the binary toxin, the mosquitocidal toxin does not interact with receptors in the larval midgut. Furthermore, it only exhibits a minor antilarvicidal effect on B. sphaericus (Yuan, 2002).…”

“…These proteins exhibit similarity to the mosquitocidal toxins, namely Mtx1 and Mtx2. The Mtx toxin, produced by B. sphaericus during the vegetative stage of bacterial growth, is independent of sporulation (Yuan, 2002). It consists of three subunits: Mtx1 (100 KDa), Mtx2 (32 KDa), and Mtx3 (36 KDa) (Chan et al, 1996;Yuan, 2002).…”

“…The Mtx toxin, produced by B. sphaericus during the vegetative stage of bacterial growth, is independent of sporulation (Yuan, 2002). It consists of three subunits: Mtx1 (100 KDa), Mtx2 (32 KDa), and Mtx3 (36 KDa) (Chan et al, 1996;Yuan, 2002). It is important to note that unlike the binary toxin, the mosquitocidal toxin does not interact with receptors in the larval midgut.…”

“…It can be further broken down by gut proteases into two pieces that are 27 and 70 KDa in size (Thanabalu et al, 1992a). The molecular weights of the Mtx2 and Mtx3 toxins are 31.8 and 35.8 KDa, respectively (Yuan, 2002).Various mosquito species, particularly Culex mosquitoes, are known to be very susceptible to the Mtx toxin's powerful mosquitocidal effects (Wang et al, 2021).…”

“…In particular, certain strains of Bacillus that produce bacteriocins have potential applications in environmental settings such as mosquito larvae mana-gement. Among these, Toxin B. sphaericus has been extensively studied and effectively utilized as a pesticide against mosquitoes (Yuan, 2002).…”