A NOVEL ISOLATE OF BACILLUS-THURINGIENSIS SEROVAR LEESIS THAT SPECIFICALLY EXHIBITS LARVICIDAL ACTIVITY AGAINST THE MOTH-FLY, TELMATOSCOPUS-ALBIPUNCTATUS

A soil isolate designated 88-KO-14-45, belonging to Bacillus thuringie nsis serovar leesis (H33), exhibited larvicidal activity against the m oth-fly; Telmatoscopus albipunctatus (Diptera: Psychodidae), but not f or larvae of the culicine and aedine mosquitoes and Lepidoptera. Purif ied parasporal inclusions had an LC50 value of 5.78 mu g/ml for the la rval moth-fly but gave no mortality against larvae elf Culex pipiens m olestus (Diptera: Culicidae) at protein concentrations up to 10 mg/ml. Electron microscopic observations revealed that the parasporal inclus ions are homogeneous round shaped bodies enclosed with thick, electron dense envelopes. Haemolytic activity against sheep erythrocytes was n or detected in the solubilized inclusions. SDS-PAGE showed that the in clusions are composed of 72, 68, 56, and 30 kDa proteins. Immunologica lly these proteins were unrelated to the inclusion proteins of B. thur ingiensis serovar israelensis, while a 70 kDa protein of the strain 73 -E-10-2 (B. thuringiensis serovar darmstadiensis) was seroactive to an tibodies against proteins of 88-KO-14-45.