Guillen Marco¹ , Manuel Porcar^1,2

1. Institut Cavanilles de Biodiversitat i Biologia Evolutiva, Universitat de Valencia. Apartado Postal 22085, 46071 Valencia, Spain
2. Fundacio General de la Universitat de Valencia, Spain
Author    Correspondence author
Bt Research, 2012, Vol. 3, No. 1   doi: 10.5376/bt.2012.03.0001
Received: 17 Jan., 2012    Accepted: 26 Jan., 2012    Published: 29 Jan., 2012

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Marco et al., 2012, Ecological Mysteries: is Bacillus thuringiensis a Real Insect Pathogen? Bt Research, Vol.3, No.1 1-2 (doi: 10.5376/bt.2012.03.0001)

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) can kill insects and multiply in their bodies, but it can also grow in semi-synthetic media; is found in environments were insects are absent; and has been reported to require midgut-associated bacteria for toxicity. We propose here a novel life cycle for Bt combining insect-based and insect-independent life cycles.

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt); Insecticidal crystal proteins (Cry); Microbial ecology; Insect pathogenicity