Insecticidal polypeptides having broad spectrum activity and uses thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12570702-B2
Application number	US-202218064008-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 9, 2022
Priority date	Aug 8, 2013
Publication date	Mar 10, 2026
Grant date	Mar 10, 2026

Abstract

The invention provides nucleic acids, and variants and fragments thereof, obtained from strains of Bacillus thuringiensis encoding polypeptides having pesticidal activity against insect pests, including Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. Particular embodiments of the invention provide isolated nucleic acids encoding pesticidal proteins, pesticidal compositions, DNA constructs, and transformed microorganisms and plants comprising a nucleic acid of the embodiments. These compositions find use in methods for controlling pests, especially plant pests.

First claim

That which is claimed:

1 . An isolated nucleic acid molecule operably linked to a heterologous regulatory element, wherein the isolated nucleic acid is selected from the group consisting of:
(a) a nucleic acid molecule comprising the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 9; (b) a nucleic acid molecule which encodes a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 10; and (c) a nucleic acid molecule encoding a polypeptide having at least 95% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 10, wherein the polypeptide has insecticidal activity.

2 . The isolated nucleic acid molecule of claim 1 , wherein said nucleic acid molecule comprises a synthetic nucleotide sequence having plant preferred codons that has been designed for expression in a plant.

3 . A DNA construct comprising a heterologous regulatory element operably linked to the nucleic acid molecule of claim 1 .

4 . A host cell comprising the DNA construct of claim 3 .

5 . The host cell of claim 4 , wherein the host cell is a bacterial cell.

6 . The host cell of claim 4 , wherein the host cell is a plant cell.

7 . A transgenic plant comprising the host cell of claim 6 .

8 . The transgenic plant of claim 7 , wherein said plant is selected from the group consisting of maize, sorghum, wheat, cabbage, sunflower, tomato, crucifers, peppers, potato, cotton, rice, soybean, sugar beet, sugarcane, tobacco, barley, and oilseed rape.

9 . A plant seed comprising the DNA construct of claim 3 .

10 . An isolated polypeptide operably linked to a heterologous signal peptide, wherein the isolated polypeptide is selected from the group consisting of:
(a) a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 10; and (b) a polypeptide having at least 95% sequence identity to the polypeptide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 10, wherein the polypeptide has insecticidal activity.

11 . A composition comprising the polypeptide of claim 10 .

12 . A method for controlling a Lepidopteran or Coleopteran pest population comprising contacting said population with a pesticidally-effective amount of the polypeptide of claim 10 .

13 . A method for killing a Lepidopteran pest comprising contacting said pest with, or feeding to said pest, a pesticidally-effective amount of the polypeptide of claim 10 .

14 . A plant or plant cell having stably incorporated into its genome a DNA construct comprising a nucleic acid molecule that encodes a polypeptide having pesticidal activity, wherein said nucleic acid molecule is selected from the group consisting of:
(a) a nucleic acid molecule comprising the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 9; (b) a nucleic acid molecule encoding a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 10; and (c) a nucleic acid molecule encoding a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence having at least 95% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 10, wherein the polypeptide has insecticidal activity;
wherein said nucleic acid molecule is operably linked to a promoter that drives expression of a coding sequence in a plant cell.

15 . A method of producing a transgenic plant or plant cell resistant to a pest, comprising introducing into said plant or plant cell an expression vector comprising a nucleic acid molecule that encodes a pesticidal polypeptide, wherein said nucleic acid molecule is selected from the group consisting of:
(a) a nucleic acid molecule comprising the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 9; (b) a nucleic acid molecule encoding a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 10; and (c) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence having at least 95% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 10,
wherein the polypeptide has insecticidal activity.

16 . A method of protecting a plant from a pest, comprising introducing into said plant or plant cell an expression vector comprising a heterologous regulatory element operably linked to a nucleotide sequence that encodes a pesticidal polypeptide, wherein said nucleotide sequence is selected from the group consisting of:
(a) a nucleic acid molecule comprising the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 9; (b) a nucleic acid molecule which encodes a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 10; and (c) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence having at least 95% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 10,
wherein the polypeptide has insecticidal activity.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the pesticidal polypeptide has insecticidal activity against a Lepidopteran pest.

Assignees

• Pioneer Hi Bred Int

Inventors

• Abad Andre R
• Wolfe Thomas Chad
• Zhou Lan

Classifications

• A01N63/23

  B. thuringiensis · CPC title

• Y02A40/146

  Genetically Modified [GMO] plants, e.g. transgenic plants · CPC title

• C12N15/8286

  for insect resistance · CPC title

• A01N63/50

  Isolated enzymes; Isolated proteins (peptides A01N37/46) · CPC title

• A01N37/46 Primary

  N-acyl derivatives · CPC title