Caracterização molecular e atividade de isolados de Bacillus thuringiensis (Berliner) para as brocas da cana-de-açúcar Diatraea saccharalis (Fabr.) e Diatraea flavipennella (Box) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae)

Abstract

The bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Berliner) presents remarkable aspects for the control of insect pests, such as its mode of action, specificity and selectivity. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the toxic activity of B. thuringiensis isolates in larvae of Diatraea saccharalis (Fabr.) and Diatraea flavipennella (Box) and determine the toxin gene contents for the very active isolates. The insects were maintained on artificial diet. Twenty four isolates were used, which were preserved in LB medium, 15% glycerol and 0.02% SDS and kept at -80 ° C. General and specific primers were used to survey for toxin genes. In pathogenicity tests with D. saccharalis and D. flavipennella, 16 and 18 isolates showed activity toward borers, respectively. The LC50 values among isolates for the population of D. saccharalis ranged from 0.08 x 105 (LIIT-0105) and 4104 x 105 (LIIT-2707) crystals + spores/mL. The isolated LIIT-0105 was 4,382 and 18.59 times more toxic than Btk and Btt, respectively. For D. flavipennella, the LC50 values between isolates ranged from 0.40 x 105 (LIIT-2707) and 542.75 x 105 (LIIT-2109) crystals + spores/mL. The isolate LIIT-2707 was 1,137 and 11.52 times more toxic than Btk and Btt, respectively. The isolate LIIT-0105 presented the lowest LC50 for D. saccharalis that harbored the genes cry1, cry2, cry8 cry9, cry1Aa, cry1Ab, cry1Ac, cry1B, cry1C, cry1D, cry1F, cry1I, cry2A, cry2Aa1, cry2Ab2, cry9C. For the borer D. flavipennella, the isolated LIIT-2707 presented the lowest LC50 and the following genes cry1, cry2, cry9, cry1Aa, cry1Ab, cry1Ac, cry1B, cry1D, cry1F, cry1I, cry2A, cry2Aa1 and cry2Ab2 were amplified. The results suggest that B. thuringiensis isolates present a great variability of genes for bioprospection, and thus potential for developing new products and insertion on plants to express Bt genes for the control of D. saccharalis and D. flavipennella.