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Recent advancement on chemical arsenal of Bt toxin and its application in pest management system in agricultural field

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Abstract

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a Gram-positive, spore-forming, soil bacterium, which is very popular bio-control agent in agricultural and forestry. In general, B. thuringiensis secretes an array of insecticidal proteins including toxins produced during vegetative growth phase (such as secreted insecticidal protein, Sip; vegetative insecticidal proteins, Vip), parasporal crystalline δ-endotoxins produced during vegetative stationary phase (such as cytolytic toxin, Cyt; and crystal toxin, Cry), and β-exotoxins. Till date, a wide spectrum of Cry proteins has been reported and most of them belong to three-domain-Cry toxins, Bin-like toxin, and Etx_Mtx2-like toxins. To the best of our knowledge, neither Bt insecticidal toxins are exclusive to Bt nor all the strains of Bt are capable of producing insecticidal Bt toxins. The lacuna in their latest classification has also been discussed. In this review, the updated information regarding the insecticidal Bt toxins and their different mode of actions were summarized. Before applying the Bt toxins on agricultural field, the non-specific effects of toxins should be investigated. We also have summarized the problem of insect resistance and the strategies to combat with this problem. We strongly believe that this information will help a lot to the budding researchers in the field of modern pest control biotechnology.

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Acknowledgements

Authors are very much thankful to Visva Bharati University, India, University of Calcutta, India, and Gauhaati University, India for proving necessary supports. This work is not funded by any agencies. Authors express their sincere respects to the honorable reviewers for their constructive criticism to make the manuscript even better.

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  1. Department of Biotechnology, Gauhati University, Guwahati, Assam, 781014, India

    Pritam Chattopadhyay

  2. Department of Zoology, Visva Bharati, Santiniketan, West Bengal, 731235, India

    Goutam Banerjee

  3. Department of Biochemistry, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal, 700019, India

    Goutam Banerjee

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Chattopadhyay, P., Banerjee, G. Recent advancement on chemical arsenal of Bt toxin and its application in pest management system in agricultural field. 3 Biotech 8, 201 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13205-018-1223-1

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