The insecticidal potential of Bacillus cereus group strains from insect-dense regions of the United Kingdom

Entomopathogenic Bacillus cereus group members (e.g. B. thuringiensis) are arguably the most important source of biopesticides globally and are widely used for industrial-scale crop protection. However, the application of biopesticidal B. cereus group strains is currently threatened by increasing resistance among insects, necessitating the development of novel insecticides. Here, we used whole-genome sequencing to characterize 13 novel B. cereus group strains from sites with high-density insect populations, including six isolates from an insect cadaver. Overall, diverse B. cereus group members were observed, encompassing three panC groups (II, IV and VI) and seven sequence types. Five strains possessed insecticidal Cry toxin-encoding genes with predicted target ranges that included insect species present at the respective sampling locations. Moreover, the genomes were computationally mined for biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs; clusters of genes governing secondary metabolite synthesis). In total, 274 BGCs were observed, of which the majority (170 BGCs; 62.04%) did not cluster with known BGCs. Taken together, our study indicates that sampling B. cereus group bacteria from insect-rich ecological niches may yield Cry toxins against the self-same insects, as well as novel and unexplored BGCs, suggesting that targeted sampling efforts could generate compound leads for biopesticide development.