Using our recently reported method of electroporation to transform Bacillus thuringiensis [Bone & Ellar (1989) FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 58, 171-178], cloned B. thuringiensis entomocidal delta-endotoxin genes have been introduced into several native B. thuringiensis strains. In many cases the resulting transformants expressed both their native toxins and the cloned toxin, producing strains with broader toxicity spectra. The introduction of the var. tenebrionis toxin gene into B. thuringiensis var. israelensis resulted in a strain with activity against Pieris brassicae (cabbage white butterfly), an activity which neither parent strain possesses. We discuss further the possibility of synergism and also the problems associated with introducing cloned DNA by this method.

A Bacillus thuringiensis isolate has been discovered which is toxic to the common housefly (Musca domestica) as well as other Diptera and Lepidoptera. Crystal δ‐endotoxins purified from this isolate killed 50% of Musca larvae at a concentration of 10.2 μg/ml, and β‐exotoxin was not detected. Sodium dodecyl polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the purified crystals revealed three protein species which were related to CryIA(b), CryIB and CryIIA toxins on the basis of immunoreactivity and amino‐terminal sequence determination. Southern blot and DNA restriction analyses suggested that the strain has sequences related to one cryIA(b), one cryIIA, and two cryIIB genes.

We present here the draft genome sequence of Streptococcus pyogenes strain M3KCL. The assembly contains 1,864,059 bp in 60 contigs. This strain is an M3 strain close to MGAS315 but produces SpeB. It was isolated from the blood of a human patient with an invasive infection in 2009.