Interaction of 65- and 62-kD Proteins from the Apical Membranes of the Aedes aegypti Larvae Midgut Epithelium with Cry4B and Cry11A Endotoxins of Bacillus thuringiensis

A. A. Buzdin, L. P. Revina, L. I. Kostina, I. A. Zalunin^*, and G. G. Chestukhina

Institute of Genetics and Selection of Industrial Microorganisms, 1-yi Dorozhnyi Proezd 1, Moscow, 113545 Russia; fax: (095) 315-0501; E-mail: lab_11@genetika.ru

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received November 19, 2001

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A protein with the molecular weight of 65 kD is the only component of Aedes aegypti larvae BBM capable to specifically bind mosquitocidal toxins Cry4B and Cry11A of Bacillus thuringiensis. This protein lacks the leucine aminopeptidase activity which is characteristic for the toxin-binding proteins from the membranes of caterpillars. Cry-toxins inactive against A. aegypti larvae either fail to bind to the 65-kD protein and to a putative product of its proteolysis with the molecular weight of 62 kD (Cry1Ab), or bind but do not compete for this binding with mosquitocidal proteins (Cry9A). The proteolytic splitting out of the first five alpha-helices in the Cry4B toxin molecule does not affect its binding to the 65- and 62-kD proteins, but an additional removal of 20-30 amino acids from the C-terminal of the molecule sharply spoils this binding. Monosaccharide residues are not involved in the binding of the 65- and 62-kD proteins with Cry4B, Cry11A, and Cry9A.

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KEY WORDS: delta-endotoxins, Bacillus thuringiensis, receptors, affinity chromatography

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