Recombinant bacteria for use in insect control
AssigneeUniversity of Hawaii
InventorsClaudia Husseneder, J. Kenneth Grace, Darcy E. Oishi
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Abstract
The present invention relates to recombinant bacteria genetically engineered from insect hosts to express toxic gene products in a pest insect. The present invention also relates to a method of controlling an insect population using such a recombinant bacteria as a delivery agent throughout an insect colony. The invention also relates to a method of delivering and expressing a gene in an insect.
Claims60
A bacterium for the control of insects transformed with a nucleic acid construct comprising:
- a nucleic acid molecule that is exogenous to the bacterium, and encodes a protein or polypeptide that is toxic to insects and
- operatively linked transcriptional and translational control elements that allow for expression of said nucleic acid molecule in insects, wherein the bacterium, when untransformed, is endogenous to the insect to be controlled.
A method for insect control comprising:
- isolating a bacterium endogenous to the insect to be controlled;
- transforming said bacterium with a nucleic acid molecule encoding a protein or polypeptide which, when expressed in the insect, is toxic to the insect;
- and
- introducing said transformed bacterium into a food source of the insect to be controlled.
A method for delivering and expressing an exogenous gene in an insect comprising:
- isolating a bacterium endogenous to the insect;
- transforming said bacterium with a nucleic acid molecule encoding a protein or polypeptide that is exogenous to the insect;
- and
- introducing said transformed bacterium into a food source of the insect.
The method according to claim 60, wherein the insect is termites.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.