Critical amino acids for the insecticidal activity of Vip3Af from Bacillus thuringiensis: Inference on structural aspects.

ABSTRACT: Vip3 vegetative insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis are an important tool for crop protection against caterpillar pests in IPM strategies. While there is wide consensus on their general mode of action, the details of their mode of action are not completely elucidated and their structure remains unknown. In this work the alanine scanning technique was performed on 558 out of the total of 788 amino acids of the Vip3Af1 protein. From the 558 residue substitutions, 19 impaired protein expression and other 19 substitutions severely compromised the insecticidal activity against Spodoptera frugiperda. The latter 19 substitutions mainly clustered in two regions of the protein sequence (amino acids 167-272 and amino acids 689-741). Most of these substitutions also decreased the activi

SUBMITTER: Banyuls N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5953952 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature