Draft Genome Sequencing of the <i>Bacillus thuringiensis</i> var. Thuringiensis Highly Insecticidal Strain 800/15

Abstract

The Bacillus thuringiensis serovar thuringiensis strain 800/15 has been actively used as an agent in biopreparations with high insecticidal activity against the larvae of the Colorado potato beetle Leptinotarsa decemlineata and gypsy moth Lymantria dispar. In the current study, we present the first draft genome of the 800/15 strain coupled with a comparative genomic analysis of its closest reference strains. The raw sequence data were obtained by Illumina technology on the HiSeq X platform and de novo assembled with the SPAdes v3.15.4 software. The genome reached 6,524,663 bp. in size and carried 6771 coding sequences, 3 of which represented loci encoding insecticidal toxins, namely, Spp1Aa1, Cry1Ab9, and Cry1Ba8 active against the orders Lepidoptera, Blattodea, Hemiptera, Diptera, and Coleoptera. We also revealed the biosynthetic gene clusters responsible for the synthesis of secondary metabolites, including fengycin, bacillibactin, and petrobactin with predicted antibacterial, fungicidal, and growth-promoting properties. Further comparative genomics suggested the strain is not enriched with genes linked with biological activities implying that agriculturally important properties rely more on the composition of loci rather than their abundance. The obtained genomic sequence of the strain with the experimental metadata could facilitate the computational prediction of bacterial isolates’ potency from genomic data.

Keywords

• <i>Bacillus thuringiensis</i>
• biovar Thuringiensis
• <i>Bt</i>
• biopreparations
• draft genome
• Illumina