Detection and philogenetic analysis of parasporin genes in Brazilian Bacillus thuringiensis isolates

• Grant number: 19/21621-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2019
• End date: December 31, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Molecular Genetics and Genetics of Microorganisms
• Principal Investigator: Janete Apparecida Desidério
• Grantee: Thais Nayara Ferreira dos Santos
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a gram-positive bacterium that has its lines studied mainly for pest insect control due to the insecticidal capacity of most of its proteins (Cry and Vip). However, recent studies indicate the presence of other proteins without insecticidal action. These proteins called Parasporins (PS) have cytotoxic activity and have six subfamilies, being PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4, PS5 and PS6. Given the high incidence of cancer cases in the world, and the need for new treatment alternatives, the present work aims to characterize lineages and Brazilian B. thuringiensis isolates, belonging to a collection of the Laboratory of Bacterial Genetics and Applied Biotechnology of FCAV - UNESP, as potential sources of PS2 and PS4 proteins. The selection of strains will be performed by PCR, followed by PCR-RFLP analysis to detect possible polymorphisms, as well as subsequent sequencing of the amplicons, in order to establish a phylogenetic analysis of the different isolates and strains for the presence of these genes. This study will indicate possible strains that may be sources of genes for future cloning, expression and characterization experiments of the cytotoxic effects of these Parasporins against different types of tumors.