Cloning of new toxic genes from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) and construction of Bt engineered strains are two key strategies for bio-control of coleopteran pests in agriculture and forestry. In this study, we cloned a new cry3Aa-type gene, cry3Aa8, from wild Bt strain YC-03 against coleopteran, and constructed a Bt engineered strain, ACE-38, containing insecticidal protein-encoding gene cry3Aa8. The engineered strain, with almost four times of Cry3Aa yield compared with strain YC-03, was an antibiotic marker-free strain. Though no selective pressure was presented in the medium, cry3Aa8 in the engineered strain ACE-38 remained stable. The yield of Cry3Aa by strain ACE-38 reached 2.09 mg/ml in the optimized fermentation medium. The activity of strain ACE-38 against Plagiodera versicolora was tested, and the LC50 of ACE-38 cultures in the optimized fermentation medium was 1.13 μl/ml. Strain ACE-38 is a non-antibiotic Bt engineered strain with high Chrysomelidae toxicity and exhibits good fermentation property. The modified indigenous site-specific recombination system constructed in this study might be useful for the construction of Bt engineered strains containing genes that cannot be expressed in the indigenous site-specific recombination system using plasmid pBMB1205R.
Keywords: Bacillus thuringiensis; Bt engineered strain; Coleopteran; Environmental safety.