Technology Industry
Industry: Email Alert RSS FeedInsecticide gets help from gut bacteria
Science News, Sept 30, 2006
The world's most widely used organic insecticide relies on an insect's normal gut flora to do its dirty work, a new study suggests.
A bacterium known as Bacillus thuringiensis produces a toxin that kills a variety of insects, including moths and mosquitoes. Despite the toxin's popularity as an insecticide, the mechanism by which it kills insects was unknown. Jo Handelsman of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her colleagues suspected that the insects' normal gut bacteria play a role.
The researchers fed gypsy moths antibiotics that wiped out their normal gut bacteria. When those insects received the B. thuringiensis toxin, few of them died.
Most RecentTechnology Articles
- Finding the Real Patterns in PC, Software Sales Virtually Impossible
- IBM Continues To Show that It Gets the Cloud
- Chromium OS will Kick Windows to Curb 'Cause Netbooks Don't Suck
- Tech Law: Rambus Suing, Datel After Microsoft, Klausner To Sue Motorola,...
- Search Engine Numbers Are Immensely Deceptive
- More »
However, when the researchers gradually replaced the insects' normal gut bacteria, the toxin became more lethal. The researchers found that a strain of Enterobacter microbes seem responsible for turning the toxin into a killer. Further investigation showed that this gut microbe thrives and multiplies when it enters an insect's hemolymph, the equivalent of blood, the researchers write in a study released early online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
These results suggest that the toxin might poke holes in insects' guts, explains Handelsman, allowing Enterobacter and other infectious gut bacteria to flood out into the hemolymph and take over the rest of a bug's body. --CB
CXO UnpluggedSmart Business interviews on BNET
Brought to you by CBS MoneyWatch.com
- Best- and Worst-Paid College Degrees
- 6 Things You Should Never Do on Twitter or Facebook
- How Much Sleep Do You Really Need?
- 6 Big Myths about Gas Mileage
Most Recent Reference Articles
- ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Dec 22 - Russia Denies Selling Missile System To Iran
- EGYPT - Dec 29 - Opposition Says Mubarak Blessed Israeli Attacks
- ARAB AFFAIRS - Dec 22 - Syria Will Eventually Move To Direct Talks With Israel
- ARAB AFFAIRS - Dec 30 - GCC Denounces Massacre
- ARAB ISRAELI RELATIONS - Israel Issues An Appeal To Palestinians In Gaza
Most Recent Reference Publications
Most Popular Reference Articles
- The Greek chorus, Jimmy the Greek got it wrong but so did his critics - Jimmy Snyder and his views on pro sports and race
- How Tyler Perry rose from homelessness to a $5 million mansion
- Credit card debt on college campuses: causes, consequences, and solutions
- 9 questions to ask your new lover: what you were afraid to ask, but always wanted to know
- Living by the word: light the candles



