“…The use of environmentally safe insecticides based on Bacillus thuringiensis toxins (Bt, ubiquitous gram-positive, spore-forming soil bacterium) as an effective insect control strategy is well documented (Kumar et al, 2008;Vasquez et al, 2009). Furthermore, Bt arises from natural habitats including soil (Martin and Travers, 1989;Hastowo et al, 1992), insects (Carozzi et al, 1991;Cavados et al, 2014), stored products (Meadows et al, 1992), aquatic environments (Ichimatsu et al, 2000), feces (Lee et al, 2003;Ohba and Lee, 2003), and plants (Ohba, 1996;Mizuki et al, 1999;Zhang et al, 2007;Maduell et al, 2008;Zhang et al, 2010).…”