Diferentes linhagens de Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner têm provado ser poderoso inseticida biológico contra larvas de várias ordens de insetos. Dada a importância epidemiológica das moscas do gênero Chrysomya Robineau-Desvoidy na produção de miíases cutâneas secundárias e transmissão mecânica de agentes patogênicos, avaliou-se a atividade de duas linhagens de B. thuringiensis (LFB-FIOCRUZ 907 e LFB-FIOCRUZ 856) sobre larvas de Chrysomya putoria (Wiedemann). A linhagem LFB-FIOCRUZ 907 foi testada em quatro diferentes concentrações misturadas à dieta e a linhagem LFB-FIOCRUZ 856 em três concentrações. As larvas de C. putoria apresentaram sensibilidade ao tratamento com a linhagem LFB-FIOCRUZ 907, nas concentrações testadas, sendo a concentração mais alta a de maior eficiência, causando maior mortalidade e reduzindo mais intensamente o peso larval e a taxa de emergência dos adultos. A linhagem LFB-FIOCRUZ 856 apresentou toxicidade muito baixa, redizindo ligeiramente a emergência dos adultos na concentração de 326 mg/ 25 g e o peso larval nas concentrações de 326 mg/ 25 g e 86 mg/ 25 g.

Different strains of Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner were proved to be a powerful biologic insecticide against larvae of several insect orders. Due to the epidemiological importance of blowflies of the Chrysomya Robineau-Desvoidy genus in the production of secondary cutaneous myiasis and mechanic transmission of pathogenic agents, the performance of two strains of B. thuringiensis (LFB-FIOCRUZ 907 and LFB-FIOCRUZ 856) was tested against larvae of Chrysomya putoria (Wiedemann). The LFB-FIOCRUZ 907 strain was tested in four different concentrations, added to the diet; the LFB-FIOCRUZ 856 strain was tested in three concentrations. C. putoria larvae showed sensibility to the treatment with the LFB-FIOCRUZ 907 strain at the tested concentrations. The higher concentration presented the best efficiency, causing higher mortality and reducing larval weight and adult emergence more intensely. The LFB-FIOCRUZ 856 strain showed low toxicity, sliglity reducing emergence time of adults at 326 mg/ 25 g concentration and larval weight at 326 mg/ 25 g and 86 mg/ 25 g concentrations.

Invasive bacteria can induce their own uptake and specify their intracellular localization; hence it is commonly assumed that proximate modulation of host cell transcription is not required for infection. However, bacteria can also modulate, directly or indirectly, the transcription of many host cell genes, whose role in the infection may be difficult to determine by global gene expression. Is the host cell nucleus proximately required for intracellular infection and, if so, for which pathogens and at what stages of infection? Enucleated cells were previously infected with Toxoplasma gondii, Chlamydia psittaci, C. trachomatis, or Rickettsia prowazekii. We enucleated L929 mouse fibroblasts by centrifugation in the presence of cytochalasin B, and compared the infection with Shigella flexneri M90T 5a of nucleated and enucleated cells. Percent infection and bacterial loads were estimated with a gentamicin suppression assay in cultures fixed and stained at different times after infection. Enucleation reduced by about half the percent of infected cells, a finding that may reflect the reduced endocytic ability of L929 cytoplasts. However, average numbers of bacteria and frequency distributions of bacterial numbers per cell at different times were similar in enucleated and nucleated cells. Bacteria with actin-rich tails were detected in both cytoplasts and nucleated cells. Lastly, cytoplasts were similarly infected 2 and 24 h after enucleation, suggesting that short-lived mRNAs were not involved in the infection. Productive S. flexneri infection could thus take place in cells unable to modulate gene transcription, RNA processing, or nucleus-dependent signaling cascades.

The influence of environmental and biological factors on the efficacy of Bacillus thuringiensis serovar israelensis and B. sphaericus as mosquito larvicides are reviewed. The importance of strain dependence, cultivating media/methods, mosquito species/specificity, formulations and their relation to mosquito feeding habits, as well as temperature, solar exposure, larval density and concomitant presence of other aquatic organisms are addressed with reference to the present status of knowledge in Brazil.