Effects of UV-light on Bacillus sphaericus and its protection by chemicals.

Although when UV-irradiated seven most toxic strains of Bacillus sphaericus lost their viabilities between 2.5-4.5 min, their larvicidal activity was protected for longer periods. Benzaldehyde, cinnamaldehyde, salicylaldehyde, methylene blue and yeast extract showed good protective effect for spore viability and larvicidal activity from UV inactivation in B. sphaericus. This protective effect has also been confirmed by SDS-PAGE analyses whereby the 42 kDa and 51 kDa toxic proteins bands did not disappear following UV treatment.