Combined analysis of supernatant-based feeding bioassays and PCR as a first-tier screening strategy for Vip -derived activities in Bacillus thuringiensis strains effective against tropical fall armyworm

Abstract

A simple and cost-effective first-tier screening strategy for VIP-derived activities in B. thuringiensis collections can be developed by combining PCR and feeding bioassays. Moreover, the employed primers showed to be useful as a tool for strains differentiation at DNA level, and for characterization and isolation of Vip-like genes in tropical B. thuringiensis germplasm.