Identification of two mosquitocidal Bacillus cereus strains showing different host ranges.

Mosquitocidal bacteria, M413 and C32 have been isolated from sediment samples collected from woodland and ditch, respectively. Gas chromatographic analysis of fatty acids methyl esters (GC-FAME) and 16S rRNA gene sequence alignment results showed these isolates belong to Bacillus cereus. The SDS-PAGE analysis of sporulated cultures of both isolates showed two major bands very similar in size. Interestingly, however, M413 is mainly toxic to 4th instars of Ochlerotatus taeniorhynchus whereas C32 is to those of Culex quinquefasciatus.