Failure to recover Bacillus thuringiensis from the Lutzow-Holm Bay region of Antarctica

A total of 65 samples, consisting of 19 floral materials and 46 soil sample s, collected from a coastal area of Lutzow-Holm Bay on the Antarctic sub-co ntinent, were examined for the presence of Bacillus thuringiensis. The freq uency of samples containing aerobic spore-forming bacteria was 41.5% and mo st of the sporeformers were not allied to the B. cereus group. Only one sam ple from a floating mat of blue-green algae contained B. cereus-like sporef ormers. However, there was no evidence for the formation of parasporal incl usions in these isolates. The result suggests that the a mesophile widely d istributed in other environments.