BACILLUS-THURINGIENSIS SUBSPECIES HUAZHONGENSIS, SEROTYPE H40, ISOLATED FROM SOILS IN THE PEOPLES-REPUBLIC-OF-CHINA

Two isolates (YBt-981 and Ybt-978) of Bacillus thuringiensis were isol ated from soil samples from Shanxi and Neimeng provinces in China. The isolates produced small and irregular parasporal inclusions that were not toxic to larvae of Culex fatigans, Culex pipiens, Anopheles sinen sis, Aedes aegypti, Spodoptera littoralis, Spodoptera exigua, Plutella xylostella and Bombyx mori. H-antigens from isolates of YBt-981 and Y Bt-978 differed from those of the known B. thuringiensis H1 to H39 ser otypes. YBt-981 and YBt-978 had the same H-antigens and the same bioch emical characters. The two isolates were identified as a new serotype designated H40. The name of B. thuringiensis serovar huazhongensis for this new subspecies represented by YBt-981 and YBt-978 is proposed.