Skip to main content
  • Poster presentation
  • Open access
  • Published:

Comparative analysis of the amino acid sequence of the Cry protein of Bacillus thuringiensis codify the toxic protein to insects of the orders Lepidoptera, Diptera and Lepidoptera/ Diptera

Background

The use of Bt crystal protein as a natural insecticide, applied directly to crops has been true for many years. Cry genes codifing these proteins are already are being used in transformation plants that become resistant to certain insects. The aim of this study was to compare the amino acid sequences that encode the Cry protein to insects of the orders Lepidoptera, Diptera and Lepidoptera / Diptera. We evaluated 15 sequences that were deposited in the GenBank and using bioinformatics tools to align and compare these sequences that present three domains (I, II, and III). It is assumed that changes in these domain influence the toxicity of the protein and her order. The results presented indicate the presence of specific regions and that may be related to the specificity of protein toxicity.

Methods

The search and download all the amino acid sequences by domains: I, II and III, of the GenBank and of the program to consult "The Blast" - "Basic Local Alignment Search Tools (Altschul et al., 1997).

The sequences were divided into the following insect orders: Coleoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera, Lepidoptera and Coleoptera, Lepidoptera and Diptera and Heminóptera.

To compare the sequences based on similarities between the genes that act on a particular species we selected 5 genes described that attack insects of the order Lepidoptera: Cry1Ba1, Cry1Ba2, Cry1Bb1, Cry1Ca1, Cry1Ca2; 5 genes of the order Diptera: Cry4Ba1, Cry4Ba2, Cry10Aa1, Cry16Aa1, Cry19Ba1 and 5 genes, whose toxin attacks insects of the order Lepidoptera and Diptera: Cry1Aa1, Cry1Aa2, Cry1Ab1, Cry1Ab2, Cry1Ac1 and by to align these sequences using the software CLUSTAW v.1.81 (Thompson et al., 1997).

Results and conclusions

This analysis revealed the occurrence of identical sequences in the 3 domains, I = 16, II = III = 6 and 14 positions. Most of these amino acids belong to the group R nonpolar and aliphatic amino acids and not were occur amino acids positively charged R group in Domain I.

In the domains I, II and III was found that 8, 5 and 7 positions, respectively, were changes between amino acids of the same group (preserved), representing 40, 25 and 35%.

In the field I was exchanging groups of amino acids conferring differences in behavior and stability of the molecule. The exchange of amino acids at positions 192, 226 and 171 provided a more hydrophilic molecule while the exchanges of amino acids at positions 142, 49 and 87 provided a more hydrophobic molecule.

Position 224 in domain II, and domain III at position 84 was exchanged amino acids increasing the stability of proteins by promoting hydrophobic interactions in the your interior.

When has been change in the amino acid change from one group to another modifying the chemical structure of the protein, their polarity and consequently their solubility in water and its interactions with other amino acids.

References

  1. Crickmore N, Zeigler DR, Schnepf E, Van Rie J, Lereclus D, Baum J, Bravo A, Dean DH: Bacillus thuringiensis toxin nomenclature. 2005, [http://www.lifesci.sussex.ac.uk/Home/Neil_Crickmore/Bt]

    Google Scholar 

  2. Crickmore N, et al: Revision of the nomenclature for the Bacillus thuringiensis pesticidal crystal protein. Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews. 62, 3: 807-813.

    Google Scholar 

  3. De Maagd RA, DE , et al: Structure, diversity and evolution of protein toxins from sporeforming entomopathogenic bacteria. Annual Review of Genetics. 2003, 37: 409-433. 10.1146/annurev.genet.37.110801.143042.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Hofte H, et al: Monoclonal antibody analysis and insecticidal spectrum of three types of lepidopteran-specific insecticidal cristal proteins of Bacillus thuringiensis. Applied Environmental Microbiology. 1988, Washington, 54 (8): 2.010-2.017.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Lereclus D, et al: Regulation of toxin virulence gene transcription in Bacillus thuringiensis. Int Journal Medical Microbiology. 2000, 290: 295-299. 10.1016/S1438-4221(00)80024-7.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Maciel, H., Zingaretti, S. & Maciel, G. Comparative analysis of the amino acid sequence of the Cry protein of Bacillus thuringiensis codify the toxic protein to insects of the orders Lepidoptera, Diptera and Lepidoptera/ Diptera. BMC Proc 8 (Suppl 4), P120 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1186/1753-6561-8-S4-P120

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1753-6561-8-S4-P120

Keywords