Induced expression of the Serratia entomophila Sep proteins shows activity towards the larvae of the New Zealand grass grub Costelytra zealandica

摘要

Serratia entomophila and Serratia proteamaculans cause amber disease of the grass grub Costelytra zealandica (Coleoptera: Scara-baeidae). Three genes required for virulence, sepABC, are located on a large plasmid, pADAP. The translated products of the sep genes are members of the toxin complex (Tc) family of insecticidal toxins that reside in the genomes of some Enterobacteriaceae. Each of the sep genes was placed either singly or as various combinations under the control of an inducible arabinose promoter, allowing their inductive expression.