Insecticidal effect of recombinant endophytic bacterium containing Pinellia ternata agglutinin against white backed planthopper, Sogatella furcifera

White backed planthopper (WBPH; Sogota furcifera Horvath) has become the major threat to rice crops throughout Asia, damaging plants both through its feeding behavior and by acting as a virus vector. Here, we developed a novel method for biologically controlling WBPH by using endophytic bacterium to express anti-pest plant lectins. Strain SJ-10 of an endophytic bacterium, characterized as Enterobacter cloacae by morphological, physiological, biochemical and 16s rDNA characteristics, was isolated from rice seedlings. The Pinellia ternate agglutinin (PTA) gene was cloned into SJ-10 for expression. The positive transformant, selected by antibiotic resistance, was evaluated using PCR, SDS-PAGE and Western blot assay. After inoculation, rSJ-10 could colonize rice plants so that they expressed PTA, and then the rice was shown to have insecticidal activity against WBPH. The results showed that rSJ-10 could significantly decrease the survival and fecundity of WBPH fed on rice seedlings ( p