Engineered microbial population

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11382989-B2
Application number	US-201816029686-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 9, 2018
Priority date	Jul 7, 2017
Publication date	Jul 12, 2022
Grant date	Jul 12, 2022

Abstract

Provided herein are genetically engineered bacteria that are native to a host insect microbiome. Further provided are methods of inducing RNA interference in an insect, such as a bee, by administering the genetically engineered bacteria.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A bee-ingestible microbial composition comprising one or more bacteria genetically engineered to express at least one heterologous nucleic acid, wherein the heterologous nucleic acid is heterologous to a host bee, and further wherein the one or more bacteria are selected from the group consisting of Snodgrassella alvi, Bartonella apis, Gilliamella apicola , and Parasaccharibacter apium.

2. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the host bee is selected from the group consisting of a honey bee and a bumble bee.

3. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the composition comprises 2, 3, 4, or 5 bacterial species selected from the group consisting of Snodgrassella alvi, Bartonella apis, Gilliamella apicola, Serratia marcescens , and Parasaccharibacter apium.

4. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the one or more bacteria express at least two heterologous nucleic acids.

5. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the heterologous nucleic acid encodes a polypeptide.

6. The composition of claim 5 , wherein the heterologous nucleic acid encodes a pesticide degrading polypeptide or a cytochrome.

7. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the heterologous nucleic acid is an inhibitory nucleic acid.

8. The composition of claim 7 , wherein the inhibitory nucleic acid is selected from the group consisting of an antisense DNA, dsRNA, siRNA, shRNA, sgRNA and a miRNA.

9. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the composition comprises a broad host range plasmid that either comprises or can express the at least one heterologous nucleic acid.

10. The composition of claim 9 , wherein the broad host range plasmid comprises at least one regulatory sequence selected from the group consisting of an RSF 1010 origin of replication, a PA1 promoter sequence, a PA2 promoter sequence, a PA3 promoter sequence, a cp25 promoter sequence, and a detectable marker.

11. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the composition comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of:
a) a live suspension comprising the bacteria,
b) a lyophilized powder comprising the bacteria,
c) a solid comprising the bacteria,
d) a liquid comprising the bacteria,
e) protein,
f) pollen,
g) a sucrose solution comprising the bacteria, and
h) a corn syrup solution comprising the bacteria.

12. The composition of claim 11 , further comprising a carbohydrate or sugar supplement.

13. A bee comprising the composition of claim 1 .

14. The bee of claim 13 , wherein the bee is a honey bee.

Assignees

• Univ Texas

Inventors

• Moran Nancy
• Barrick Jeffrey
• Leonard Sean

Classifications

• A23K50/90 Primary

  for insects, e.g. bees or silkworms · CPC title

• C12N2310/141

  MicroRNAs, miRNAs · CPC title

• C12N2310/20

  involving clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats [CRISPR] · CPC title

• A61K48/005 Primary

  characterised by an aspect of the 'active' part of the composition delivered, i.e. the nucleic acid delivered · CPC title

• C12N1/20

  Bacteria; Culture media therefor · CPC title