Tandem Mass Tag-Based Quantitative Proteomics and Virulence Phenotype of Hemolymph-Treated Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki Cells Reveal New Insights on Bacterial Pathogenesis in Insects

Abstract

After ingestion by a susceptible insect and damaging its midgut epithelium, the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) reaches the insect blood (hemolymph), where it propagates despite the host’s antimicrobial defenses and induces insect death by acute septicemia. Although the hemolymph stage of the Bt toxic pathway is determinant for the infested insects’ fate, the response of Bt to hemolymph and the latter’s role in bacterial pathogenesis has been poorly explored.