Bacillus thuringiensis is a Gram positive, soil-dwelling bacterium. Like all Bacillus species, it is rod-shaped and produces spores. Aside from being a close relative to Bacillus anthracis (the one ...

If you have moths or caterpillars bothering your garden, Bt (or Bacillus thuringiensis) is your best bet to wipe them out without harming beneficial insects. You can buy this organic pest control at ...

The cadherin receptor, BT-R3, of Anopheles gambiae reported in a new study mediates the killing action of the Cry4B mosquitocidal toxin. Characterization of the toxin-receptor complex will facilitate ...

Milkweeds growing in cornfields sometimes support monarch butterfly larvae at the same time the corn is shedding its pollen, according to a survey of cornfields in the Midwest, Maryland and Ontario.

The European corn borer (ECB) consists of at least two., genetically differentiated host races: one feeding on maize, the other feeding on mugwort and hop. It is unclear to what extent individuals ...

Critics often raise concern that genetically engineered crops might harm the environment or people who eat them. But now a new study finds that farmers who plant Bt corn reduce crop damage and ...

A major challenge in bacterial developmental biology is to understand how the bacteria determine their fate at the cell level (Losick and Desplan, 2008; Lopez et al., 2009). To date, this question has ...

Is the supposed safety advantage of GMO crops over conventional chemical pesticides a mirage? According to biotech lore, the Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) pesticides introduced into many GMO food crops ...

Sometimes scientists get it wrong and have to revise the conventional wisdom they helped create. A bacterium known as Bacillus thuringiensis produces a toxic crystal that has been identified as a ...

John Losey thought his Nature paper might attract some attention, but not the media "whirlwind" of "a good 60 calls" that disrupted his life for a few days. Losey, assistant professor of entomology at ...