Genomic Insights into Bacillus thuringiensis V-CO3.3: Unveiling Its Genetic Potential against Nematodes

Abstract

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a Gram-positive, spore-forming, and ubiquitous bacterium harboring plasmids encoding a variety of proteins with insecticidal activity, but also with activity against nematodes. The aim of this work was to perform the genome sequencing and analysis of a native Bt strain showing bipyramidal parasporal crystals and designated V-CO3.3, which was isolated from the dust of a grain storehouse in Córdoba (Spain). Its genome comprised 99 high-quality assembled contigs accounting for a total size of 5.2 Mb and 35.1% G + C. Phylogenetic analyses suggested that this strain should be renamed as Bacillus cereus s.s. biovar Thuringiensis. Gene annotation revealed a total of 5495 genes, among which, 1 was identified as encoding a Cry5Ba homolog protein with well-documented toxicity against nematodes. These results suggest that this Bt strain has interesting potential for nematode biocontrol. Dataset: The BioSample data have been submitted under accession number SAMN41014059. The whole-genome sequences have been submitted to the NCBI with BioProject number PRJNA1102171. The assembled genome sequences are available under accession number JBCGZW000000000. The (Illumina) raw reads have been submitted to Sequence Read Archives (SRA) under accession number SRR28927673. The V-CO-3.3 strain has been stored in the Spanish Type Culture Collection (CECT) at the University of Valencia (Spain) under accession number CECT 31068. Dataset License: CC-BY-NC