This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Bowen, D. J.
Right arrow Articles by Ensign, J. C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Bowen, D. J.
Right arrow Articles by Ensign, J. C.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Bowen, D. J.
Right arrow Articles by Ensign, J. C.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 1998, p. 3029-3035, Vol. 64, No. 8
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Purification and Characterization of a High-Molecular-Weight Insecticidal Protein Complex Produced by the Entomopathogenic Bacterium Photorhabdus luminescens

David J. Bowendagger and Jerald C. Ensign*

Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706

Received 26 February 1998/Accepted 2 June 1998

Photorhabdus luminescens is a gram-negative enteric bacterium that is found in association with entomopathogenic nematodes of the family Heterorhabditidae. The nematodes infect a variety of soil-dwelling insects. Upon entering an insect host, the nematode releases P. luminescens cells from its intestinal tract, and the bacteria quickly establish a lethal septicemia. When grown in peptone broth, in the absence of the nematodes, the bacteria produce a protein toxin complex that is lethal when fed to, or injected into the hemolymph of, Manduca sexta larvae and several other insect species. The toxin purified as a protein complex which has an estimated molecular weight of 1,000,000 and contains no protease, phospholipase, or hemolytic activity and only a trace of lipase activity. The purified toxin possesses insecticidal activity whether injected or given orally. Analyses of the denatured complex by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed it to be composed of several protein subunits ranging in size from 30 to 200 kDa. The complex was further separated by native gel electrophoresis into three components, two of which retained insecticidal activity. The purified native toxin complex was found to be active in nanogram concentrations against insects representing four orders of the class Insecta.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706. Phone: (608) 262-7877. Fax: (608) 262-9865. E-mail: jcensign{at}facstaff.wisc.edu.

dagger Present address: Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 1998, p. 3029-3035, Vol. 64, No. 8
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Qiu, X., Han, R., Yan, X., Liu, M., Cao, L., Yoshiga, T., Kondo, E. (2009). Identification and Characterization of a Novel Gene Involved in the trans-Specific Nematicidal Activity of Photorhabdus luminescens LN2. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 75: 4221-4223 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Zhao, R., Han, R., Qiu, X., Yan, X., Cao, L., Liu, X. (2008). Cloning and Heterologous Expression of Insecticidal-Protein-Encoding Genes from Photorhabdus luminescens TT01 in Enterobacter cloacae for Termite Control. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74: 7219-7226 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Hares, M. C., Hinchliffe, S. J., Strong, P. C. R., Eleftherianos, I., Dowling, A. J., ffrench-Constant, R. H., Waterfield, N. (2008). The Yersinia pseudotuberculosis and Yersinia pestis toxin complex is active against cultured mammalian cells. Microbiology 154: 3503-3517 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Chalabaev, S., Turlin, E., Bay, S., Ganneau, C., Brito-Fravallo, E., Charles, J.-F., Danchin, A., Biville, F. (2008). Cinnamic Acid, an Autoinducer of Its Own Biosynthesis, Is Processed via Hca Enzymes in Photorhabdus luminescens. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74: 1717-1725 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Nunez-Valdez, M. E., Calderon, M. A., Aranda, E., Hernandez, L., Ramirez-Gama, R. M., Lina, L., Rodriguez-Segura, Z., Gutierrez, M. d. C., Villalobos, F. J. (2008). Identification of a Putative Mexican Strain of Serratia entomophila Pathogenic against Root-Damaging Larvae of Scarabaeidae (Coleoptera). Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74: 802-810 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Dodd, S. J., Hurst, M. R. H., Glare, T. R., O'Callaghan, M., Ronson, C. W. (2006). Occurrence of sep Insecticidal Toxin Complex Genes in Serratia spp. and Yersinia frederiksenii.. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72: 6584-6592 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Brown, S. E., Cao, A. T., Dobson, P., Hines, E. R., Akhurst, R. J., East, P. D. (2006). Txp40, a Ubiquitous Insecticidal Toxin Protein from Xenorhabdus and Photorhabdus Bacteria. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72: 1653-1662 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Brown, S. E., Cao, A. T., Hines, E. R., Akhurst, R. J., East, P. D. (2004). A Novel Secreted Protein Toxin from the Insect Pathogenic Bacterium Xenorhabdus nematophila. J. Biol. Chem. 279: 14595-14601 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Ciche, T. A., Blackburn, M., Carney, J. R., Ensign, J. C. (2003). Photobactin: a Catechol Siderophore Produced by Photorhabdus luminescens, an Entomopathogen Mutually Associated with Heterorhabditis bacteriophora NC1 Nematodes. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 69: 4706-4713 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Ciche, T. A., Ensign, J. C. (2003). For the Insect Pathogen Photorhabdus luminescens, Which End of a Nematode Is Out?. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 69: 1890-1897 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Ribeiro, C., Vignes, M., Brehelin, M. (2003). Xenorhabdus nematophila (Enterobacteriacea) Secretes a Cation-selective Calcium-independent Porin Which Causes Vacuolation of the Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum and Cell Lysis. J. Biol. Chem. 278: 3030-3039 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Tan, L., Grewal, P. S. (2001). Pathogenicity of Moraxella osloensis, a Bacterium Associated with the Nematode Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita, to the Slug Deroceras reticulatum. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 67: 5010-5016 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Waterfield, N., Dowling, A., Sharma, S., Daborn, P. J., Potter, U., Ffrench-Constant, R. H. (2001). Oral Toxicity of Photorhabdusluminescens W14 Toxin Complexes in Escherichiacoli. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 67: 5017-5024 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Daborn, P. J., Waterfield, N., Blight, M. A., Ffrench-Constant, R. H. (2001). Measuring Virulence Factor Expression by the Pathogenic Bacterium Photorhabdus luminescens in Culture and during Insect Infection. J. Bacteriol. 183: 5834-5839 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Bowen, D. J., Ensign, J. C. (2001). Isolation and Characterization of Intracellular Protein Inclusions Produced by the Entomopathogenic Bacterium Photorhabdus luminescens. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 67: 4834-4841 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Ciche, T. A., Bintrim, S. B., Horswill, A. R., Ensign, J. C. (2001). A Phosphopantetheinyl Transferase Homolog Is Essential for Photorhabdus luminescens To Support Growth and Reproduction of the Entomopathogenic Nematode Heterorhabditis bacteriophora. J. Bacteriol. 183: 3117-3126 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Hurst, M. R. H., Glare, T. R., Jackson, T. A., Ronson, C. W. (2000). Plasmid-Located Pathogenicity Determinants of Serratia entomophila, the Causal Agent of Amber Disease of Grass Grub, Show Similarity to the Insecticidal Toxins of Photorhabdus luminescens. J. Bacteriol. 182: 5127-5138 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Ffrench-Constant, R. H., Waterfield, N., Burland, V., Perna, N. T., Daborn, P. J., Bowen, D., Blattner, F. R. (2000). A Genomic Sample Sequence of the Entomopathogenic Bacterium Photorhabdus luminescens W14: Potential Implications for Virulence. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 66: 3310-3329 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Blackburn, M., Golubeva, E., Bowen, D., Ffrench-Constant, R. H. (1998). A Novel Insecticidal Toxin from Photorhabdus luminescens, Toxin Complex a (Tca), and Its Histopathological Effects on the Midgut of Manduca sexta. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 64: 3036-3041 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2010 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»