Paenibacillus associated with milky disease in Central and South American scarabs

Thirty-one isolates of bacteria causing milky disease in scarab larvae coll ected in Central and South America were identified as Paenibacillus popilli ae or Paenibacillus lentimorbus by use of DNA similarity analysis. The isol ates were more similar to each other than to the North American isolates th at are the type strains of the species. All of the bacteria of both species produced parasporal bodies, a characteristic previously believed to be uni que to P. popilliae. Screening of the bacteria using PCR with parasporal pr otein primers revealed differences among the parasporal protein genes of P. popilliae isolates and between the parasporal genes of P. popilliae and P. lentimorbus. In contrast to P. popilliae from North America, none of the i solates from Central and South America was resistant to vancomycin, an indi cation of an interesting geographic distribution of the resistance genes. ( C) 2000 Academic Press.