Project description:Ecologically sound approaches to control mosquitoes like Anopheles stephensi, which are obligatory vectors for malaria transmission, are urgently needed because of increasing insecticide resistance. Bacteria from Bacillus are important resources. Here, we report the whole-genome sequence of Bacillus wiedmannii biovar thuringiensis ZZQ-138, which was isolated from sediment from a saline lake.
Project description:Polyhydroxybutyrates (PHBs) are macromolecules synthesized by bacteria. Because of their fast degradability under natural environmental conditions, PHBs were selected as alternatives for the production of biodegradable plastics. Sixteen PHB-accumulating strains were selected and compared for their ability to accumulate PHB granules inside their cells. Isolate AS-02 was isolated from cattle manure and identified as Bacillus wiedmannii AS-02 OK576278 by means of 16S rRNA analysis. It was found to be the best producer. The optimum pH, temperature, and incubation period for the best PHB production by the isolate were 7, 35 °C, and 72 h respectively. PHB production was the best with peptone and glucose as nitrogen and carbon sources at a C/N ratio of (2:1). The strain was able to accumulate 423, 390, 249, 158, and 144 mg/L PHB when pretreated orange, mango, banana, onion peels, and rice straw were used as carbon sources, respectively. The extracted polymer was characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and GC-MS spectroscopy, which confirmed the structure of the polymer as PHB. The isolate B. wiedmannii AS-02 OK576278 can be considered an excellent candidate for industrial production of PHB from agricultural wastes.
Project description:Host-derived factors are sucked into midgut of mosquitoes during natural malaria transmission, but their influence on malaria transmission is largely unknown. We reported that mouse complement C3 taken into mosquitoes significantly promoted malaria transmission either in laboratory or in field. This effect was attributed to the reduction of microbiota abundance in mosquito midgut by host-derived C3 through direct lyses the predominant symbiont bacteria Elizabethkingia anopheles. Elizabethkingia anopheles symbiont bacteria were demonstrated to be detrimental to malaria sexual stages in mosquitoes. Strikingly, the promoted effect of host C3 on malaria transmission was confirmed by laboratory mosquitoes membrane-feeding on Plasmodium falciparum. Therefore, we reveal a novel strategy of malaria parasite to utilize host complement C3 to promote its transmission, and the administration of C3 inhibitor would provide us a novel strategy to control malaria transmission.
Project description:Bacillus cereus sensu lato also known as B. cereus group is composed of an ecologically diverse bacterial group with an increasing number of related species, some of which are medically or agriculturally important. Numerous efforts have been undertaken to allow presumptive differentiation of B. cereus group species from one another. FCC41 is a Bacillus sp. strain toxic against mosquito species like Aedes aegypti, Aedes (Ochlerotatus) albifasciatus, Culex pipiens, Culex quinquefasciatus, and Culex apicinus, some of them responsible for the transmission of vector-borne diseases. Here, we report the complete genome sequence of FCC41 strain, which consists of one circular chromosome and eight circular plasmids ranging in size from 8 to 490 kb. This strain harbors six crystal protein genes, including cry24Ca, two cry4-like and two cry52-like, a cry41-like parasporin gene and multiple virulence factors. The phylogenetic analysis of the whole-genome sequence of this strain with molecular approaches places this strain into the Bacillus wiedmannii cluster. However, according with phenotypical characteristics such as the mosquitocidal activity due to the presence of Cry proteins found in the parasporal body and cry genes encoded in plasmids of different sizes, indicate that this strain could be renamed as B. wiedmannii biovar thuringiensis strain FCC41.