Pesticidal toxins

The soil microbe ( .) is a Gram-positive, spore-forming bacterium characterized by parasporal crystalline protein inclusions. These inclusions often appear microscopically as distinctively shaped crystals. The proteins can be highly toxic to pests and specific in their toxic activity. Certain . toxin genes have been isolated and sequenced, and recombinant DNA-based . products have been produced and approved for use. In addition, with the use of genetic engineering techniques, new approaches for delivering these . endotoxins to agricultural environments are under development, including the use of plants genetically engineered with endotoxin genes for insect resistance and the use of stabilized intact microbial cells as . endotoxin delivery vehicles (Gaertner, F. H., L. Kim [1988 6:S4-S7). Thus, isolated . endotoxin genes are becoming commercially valuable. The subject invention concerns new classes of pesticidal toxins and the polynucleotide sequences which encode these toxins. Also described are novel pesticidal isolates of