Affiliation:
1. Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics of Ufa Federal Research Center
of Russian Academy of Sciences
Abstract
One of the urgent problems of plant protection from pests and diseases is the creation of environmentally safe biocontrol agents, the use of which would not be accompanied by an increase of the resistance of insect pests. Microorganisms have great potential in this regard. The most promising group are endophytes, which inhabit the internal tissues of plants and participate in formation of the phenotype of plant organisms. Bacteria of the genus Bacillus are of particular interest due to their wide distribution in the nature, the safety of many species for humans, and the relative ease with which biocontrol means based on Bacillus sp. could be obtained. The review considers the properties and activity of B. thuringiensis as follows: endophytic, insecticidal, antibiotic activity, production of growth regulators and mobilization of plant nutrients, resistance induction, as well as the possibility of constructing new strains using genetic engineering methods.
Publisher
The Russian Academy of Sciences