Proteínas Cry1 e Vip3A de Bacillus thuringiensis: sinergismo e efeito sub-letal no controle de Heliothis virescens

Abstract

A bactéria Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) possui a capacidade de produzir inclusões protéicas (proteína Cry) e proteínas vegetativas (Vip). Estas proteínas podem ser tóxicas para insetos e por meio de transgenia, a expressão em plantas, podem também proporcionar controle de importantes pragas agrícolas. Nesse sentido, esta pesquisa teve por objetivo avaliar o potencial de controle das proteínas Cry1Aa, Cry1Ac, Cry1Ca, Vip3A(1), Vip3A(2) e Vip3A(3) em uma população brasileira da lagarta-da-maçã, Heliothis virescens (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), bem como o efeito subletal e efeito sinérgico entre estas proteínas e a proteólise pelo suco do intestino do inseto praga em estudo. Para tanto, clones de Escherichia coli recombinantes portadores de genes únicos foram cultivados em meio para a indução das proteínas e os lisados obtidos foram utilizados para as análises de toxicidade por meio de bioensaios. Diferentes concentrações protéicas foram utilizadas para conduzir os bioensaios. A mortalidade foi avaliada e obteve-se a CL50. Desta forma, observou-se que, dentre as proteínas testadas, Cry1Ac (CL50 39,89 ng.cm-2), Vip3A(2) (CL50 945,77 ng.cm-2) e Vip3A(3) (CL50 874,45 ng.cm-2 ) foram as mais tóxicas e houve correlação negativa entre a concentração de proteínas e o peso das lagartas. Nos ensaios referentes ao efeito sinérgico das proteínas, ativadas e não ativadas com tripsina comercial, foram encontradas possíveis combinações eficientes no controle da praga em estudo destacando-se Vip3A(2)/Cry1Aa, Vip3A(1)/Cry1Aa, Vip3A(1)/Cry1Ac, e Vip3A(2)/Cry1Ac. Os resultados referentes à interação das enzimas digestivas do intestino de H. virescens com as toxinas Cry1 e Vip3A permitiram constatar que as proteínas são ativadas

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) produces protein inclusions (Cry proteins) and vegetative proteins (Vip). Such proteins may act as toxic to some insects and through transgenesis plants they may be able to control important agricultural pests. Thus this work aimed to evaluate the control potential of Cry1Aa, Cry1Ac, Cry1Ca, Vip3A(1), Vip3A(2) and Vip3A(3) proteins in a Brazilian population of Heliothis virescens (tobacco budworm) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), as well as to analyze the sublethal and the synergic effects among these proteins and the proteolysis on the intestinal juice of this pest. In order to do this, Escherichia coli clones expressing each one of the above mentioned proteins were induced to produce them and the obtained lysates were used to determine the level of toxicity through bioassays with neonatal larvae of H. virescens. Different protein concentrations were used to carry out the bioassays. The mortality was evaluated and it was possible to detect the CL50. It was possible to observe that among the tested proteins, Cry1Ac (CL50 39.89 ng.cm-2), Vip3A(2) (CL50 945,77 ng.cm-2) and Vip3A (3) (CL50 874,45 ng.cm-2) were the most toxic and showed a negative correlation between the protein concentration and larvae weight. During the bioassays concerning the synergistic effect of these proteins, which were either previously activated or not using commercial trypsin, there we found efficient combinations for the control of the pest under study in this work, being that the combinations Vip3A(2)/Cry1Aa, Vip3A(1)/Cry1Aa, Vip3A(1)/Cry1Ac and Vip3A(2)/Cry1Ac were considered the best ones. The results with reference to the interaction of the digestive enzymes from the intestine of H. virescens larvae when using the toxins Cry1 and Vip3A allowed us to detect that these proteins are activated