美国农业部批准使用紫色细菌对抗作物害虫

• http://www.aweb.com.cn 2007年12月20日09:38 美国农业部网

　　美国农业部网12月13日消息，科学家们发现一种紫色细菌可以阻碍作物害虫-科罗拉多马铃薯甲虫幼虫的成长，这种紫色细菌同时对舞毒蛾、小蜂房甲虫和烟草天蛾也有不同程度的毒性。在2007年7月，美国农业研究服务局批准使用该类紫色菌落作为生物防治剂对付马铃薯甲虫、舞毒蛾、小蜂房甲虫和烟草天蛾等作物害虫。（国际情报研究室译）

　　【原文】

　　ARS Licenses Purple Bacteria to Battle Crop Pests 

　　By Sharon Durham

　　December 13, 2007 

　　A bacterium discovered by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists that is toxic to Colorado potato beetle larvae also was found in preliminary studies to be toxic in varying degrees to gypsy moth, small hive beetle and tobacco hornworm. Now, ARS has licensed the technology to Marrone Organic Innovations, Inc., of Davis, Calif., and Natural Industries, Inc., of Houston, Texas. 

　　ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research agency. 

　　Microbiologist Phyllis Martin, technician Ashaki D. Shropshire-Mitchell, entomologist Michael Blackburn, and molecular biologist Dawn Gundersen-Rindal, all at the ARS Invasive Insect Biocontrol and Behavior Laboratory in Beltsville, Md., found a new bacterial species called Chromobacterium subtsugae. The group then found that the bacterium displayed toxicity to immature Colorado potato beetles. Additional studies will be conducted to determine potential toxicity to non-target insects.

　　Soil rich in decomposed hemlock leaves and collected from the Catoctin Mountain region in central Maryland was the source of the C. subtsugae. The team isolated the microbe by suspending samples of forest soil in water and then plating it directly on growth medium. The unusual purple colonies were then tested in a project to develop a more efficient way to test for toxicity in Colorado potato beetle.

　　Other insects were also affected. While tobacco hornworm and gypsy moth weren't killed by the bacteria, their weights were drastically reduced. Weights of tobacco hornworms that were fed the bacteria-laced diet were 24 milligrams, compared to 119 milligrams for insects that didn't eat the bacteria. Gypsy moths that ate the bacteria weighed 40 percent less than gypsy moths that weren't exposed. 

　　In previous studies conducted by Martin, C. subtsugae also was found to be toxic, in varying degrees, to western corn rootworm, southern corn rootworm, white flies, and diamondback moth. In July 2007, a patent was granted for use of the bacterium as a biocontrol agent against those pests.