An in-depth characterization of the entomopathogenic strain Bacillus pumilus 15.1 reveals that it produces inclusion bodies similar to the parasporal crystals of Bacillus thuringiensis

详细信息    查看全文

• 作者：Diana C. Garcia-Ramon ; C. Alfonso Molina…
• 关键词：Entomopathogenic bacteria ; Crystal inclusions ; Bacillus pumilus ; UV resistance
• 刊名：Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：April 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：100
• 期：8
• 页码：3637-3654
• 全文大小：883 KB
• 参考文献：Afifah DN, Sulchan M, Syah D, Yanti SMT, Kim JH (2014) Purification and characterization of a fibrinolytic enzyme from Bacillus pumilus 2.g isolated from Gembus, an Indonesian fermented food. Prev Nutr Food Sci 19:213–219. doi:10.​3746/​pnf.​2014.​19.​3.​213 CrossRef PubMed PubMedCentral
  Allison C, Coleman N, Jones PL, Hughes C (1992) Ability of Proteus mirabilis to invade human urothelial cells is coupled to motility and swarming differentiation. Infect Immun 60:4740–4746PubMed PubMedCentral
  Anderson TF (1951) Techniques for the preservation of three dimensional structure in preparing specimens for the electron microscope. Tran NY Acad Sci 13:130–133CrossRef
  Asraful Islam SM, Math RK, Kim JM, Yun MG, Cho JJ, Kim EJ, Lee YH, Yun HD (2010) Effect of plant age on endophytic bacterial diversity of balloon flower (Platycodon grandiflorum) root and their antimicrobial activities. Curr Microbiol 61:346–356. doi:10.​1007/​s00284-010-9618-1 CrossRef PubMed
  Aunpad R, Na-Bangchang K (2007) Pumilicin 4, a novel bacteriocin with anti-MRSA and anti-VRE activity produced by newly isolated bacteria Bacillus pumilus strain WAPB4. Curr Microbiol 55:308–313. doi:10.​1007/​s00284-006-0632-2 CrossRef PubMed
  Barbosa TM, Serra CR, La Ragione RM, Woodward MJ, Henriques AO (2005) Screening for Bacillus isolates in the broiler gastrointestinal tract. Appl Environ Microbiol 71:968–978. doi:10.​1128/​AEM.​71.​2.​968-978.​2005 CrossRef PubMed PubMedCentral
  Bechtel DB, Bulla LA (1976) Electron microscope study of sporulation and parasporal crystal formation in Bacillus thuringiensis. J Bacteriol 127:1472–1481PubMed PubMedCentral
  Benardini JN, Sawyer J, Venkateswaran K, Nicholson WL (2003) Spore UV and acceleration resistance of endolithic Bacillus pumilus and Bacillus subtilis isolates obtained from Sonoran desert basalt: implications for lithopanspermia. Astrobiology 3:709–717. doi:10.​1089/​1531107033227360​33 CrossRef PubMed
  Benedict RG, Schmidt WH, Coghill RD (1945) Penicillin; penicillinase. Arch Biochem 8:377–384PubMed
  Bishop AH (2014) Expression of prtA from Photorhabdus luminescens in Bacillus thuringiensis enhances mortality in lepidopteran larvae by sub-cutaneous but not oral infection. J Invertebr Pathol 121:85–88. doi:10.​1016/​j.​jip.​2014.​07.​001 CrossRef PubMed
  Bottone EJ, Peluso RW (2003) Production by Bacillus pumilus (MSH) of an antifungal compound that is active against Mucoraceae and Aspergillus species: preliminary report. J Med Microbiol 52:69–74CrossRef PubMed
  Bowen DJ, Rocheleau TA, Grutzmacher CK, Meslet L, Valens M, Marble D, Dowling A, Ffrench-Constant R, Blight MA (2003) Genetic and biochemical characterization of PrtA, an RTX-like metalloprotease from Photorhabdus. Microbiology 149:1581–1591CrossRef PubMed
  Bullock WO, Fernandez JM, Short JM (1987) XL1 Blue: a high efficiency plasmid transforming recA Escherichia coli strain with β-galactosidase selection. BioTechniques 5:376–378
  Burkholder PR, Giles NH Jr (1947) Induced biochemical mutations in Bacillus subtilis. Am J Bot 34:345–348CrossRef PubMed
  Cao Q, Qu Z, Wan Y, Zhang H, Shen D (2001) Cloning, molecular characterization, and application of rice epiphytic Bacillus pumilus promoter fragments. Curr Microbiol 43:244–248CrossRef PubMed
  Cescutti P, Toffanin R, Pollesello P, Sutherland IW (1999) Structural determination of the acidic exopolysaccharide produced by a Pseudomonas sp. strain 1.15. Carbohydr Res 315:159–168CrossRef PubMed
  De-Bashan LE, Hernandez JP, Bashan Y, Maier R (2010) Bacillus pumilus ES4: candidate plant growth-promoting bacterium to enhance establishment of plants in mine tailings. Environ Exp Bot 69:343–352. doi:10.​1016/​j.​envexpbot.​2010.​04.​014 CrossRef PubMed PubMedCentral
  Dogsa I, Kriechbaum M, Stopar D, Laggner P (2005) Structure of bacterial extracellular polymeric substances at different pH values as determined by SAXS. Biophys J 89:2711–2720. doi:10.​1529/​biophysj.​105.​061648 CrossRef PubMed PubMedCentral
  Duc le H, Hong HA, Barbosa TM, Henriques AO, Cutting SM (2004) Characterization of Bacillus probiotics available for human use. Appl Environ Microbiol 70:2161–2171
  Dulmage HT (1970) Production of the spore-delta-endotoxin complex by variants of Bacillus thuringiensis in two fermentation media. J Invertebr Pathol 16:385–389CrossRef PubMed
  Efsa EFSA (2008) Update of the criteria used in the assessment of bacterial resistance to antibiotics of human or veterinary importance. EFSA Journal 732:1–15
  Ericsson HM, Sherris JC (1971) Antibiotic sensitivity testing. Report of an international collaborative study. Acta Pathol Microbiol Scand B: Microbiol Immunol 217(Suppl 217):211+
  Ertürk Ö, Yaman M, Aslan İ (2008) Effects of four Bacillus spp. of soil origin on the Colorado potato beetle Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say). Entomol Res 38:135–138CrossRef
  Euzeby JP (1997) List of bacterial names with standing in nomenclature: a folder available on the Internet. Int J Syst Bacteriol 47:590–592CrossRef PubMed
  Fedhila S, Nel P, Lereclus D (2002) The InhA2 metalloprotease of Bacillus thuringiensis strain 407 is required for pathogenicity in insects infected via the oral route. J Bacteriol 184:3296–3304CrossRef PubMed PubMedCentral
  Garbeva P, van Veen JA, van Elsas JD (2003) Predominant Bacillus spp. in agricultural soil under different management regimes detected via PCR-DGGE. Microb Ecol 45:302–316. doi:10.​1007/​s00248-002-2034-8 CrossRef PubMed
  Garland JL, Mills AL (1991) Classification and characterization of heterotrophic microbial communities on the basis of patterns of community-level sole-carbon-source utilization. Appl Environ Microbiol 57:2351–2359PubMed PubMedCentral
  Gioia J, Yerrapragada S, Qin X, Jiang H, Igboeli OC, Muzny D, Dugan-Rocha S, Ding Y, Hawes A, Liu W, Perez L, Kovar C, Dinh H, Lee S, Nazareth L, Blyth P, Holder M, Buhay C, Tirumalai MR, Liu Y, Dasgupta I, Bokhetache L, Fujita M, Karouia F, Eswara Moorthy P, Siefert J, Uzman A, Buzumbo P, Verma A, Zwiya H, McWilliams BD, Olowu A, Clinkenbeard KD, Newcombe D, Golebiewski L, Petrosino JF, Nicholson WL, Fox GE, Venkateswaran K, Highlander SK, Weinstock GM (2007) Paradoxical DNA repair and peroxide resistance gene conservation in Bacillus pumilus SAFR-032. PLoS One 2, e928. doi:10.​1371/​journal.​pone.​0000928 CrossRef PubMed PubMedCentral
  Gorke B, Stulke J (2008) Carbon catabolite repression in bacteria: many ways to make the most out of nutrients. Nat Rev Microbiol 6:613–624. doi:10.​1038/​nrmicro1932 CrossRef PubMed
  Hamze K, Julkowska D, Autret S, Hinc K, Nagorska K, Sekowska A, Holland IB, Seror SJ (2009) Identification of genes required for different stages of dendritic swarming in Bacillus subtilis, with a novel role for phrC. Microbiology 155:398–412. doi:10.​1099/​mic.​0.​021477-0 CrossRef PubMed
  Hamze K, Autret S, Hinc K, Laalami S, Julkowska D, Briandet R, Renault M, Absalon C, Holland IB, Putzer H, Seror SJ (2011) Single-cell analysis in situ in a Bacillus subtilis swarming community identifies distinct spatially separated subpopulations differentially expressing hag (flagellin), including specialized swarmers. Microbiology 157:2456–2469. doi:10.​1099/​mic.​0.​047159-0 CrossRef PubMed
  Hayase N, Yano H, Kudoh E, Tsutsumi C, Ushio K, Miyahara Y, Tanaka S, Nakagawa K (2004) Isolation and characterization of poly(butylene succinate-co-butylene adipate)-degrading microorganism. J Biosci Bioeng 97:131–133. doi:10.​1016/​S1389-1723(04)70180-2 CrossRef PubMed
  Heins SD, Manker DC, Jimenez DR, Marrone PG (1999) Bacillus pumilus strain for controlling corn rootworm, nematode and armyworm infestations. United States Patent 6,001,637, 4 Mar 1999
  Heuck AP, Moe PC, Johnson BB (2010) The cholesterol-dependent cytolysin family of gram-positive bacterial toxins. Subcell Biochem 51:551–577. doi:10.​1007/​978-90-481-8622-8_​20 CrossRef PubMed
  Houry A, Briandet R, Aymerich S, Gohar M (2010) Involvement of motility and flagella in Bacillus cereus biofilm formation. Microbiology 156:1009–1018. doi:10.​1099/​mic.​0.​034827-0 CrossRef PubMed
  Kalfon A, Charles JF, Bourgouin C, de Barjac H (1984) Sporulation of Bacillus sphaericus 2297: an electron microscope study of crystal-like inclusion biogenesis and toxicity to mosquito larvae. J Gen Microbiol 130:893–900PubMed
  Kearns DB, Losick R (2003) Swarming motility in undomesticated Bacillus subtilis. Mol Microbiol 49:581–590CrossRef PubMed
  La Duc MT, Nicholson W, Kern R, Venkateswaran K (2003) Microbial characterization of the Mars Odyssey spacecraft and its encapsulation facility. Environ Microbiol 5:977–985CrossRef PubMed
  Link L, Sawyer J, Venkateswaran K, Nicholson W (2004) Extreme spore UV resistance of Bacillus pumilus isolates obtained from an ultraclean Spacecraft Assembly Facility. Microb Ecol 47:159–163. doi:10.​1007/​s00248-003-1029-4 CrossRef PubMed
  Liu Y, Lai Q, Dong C, Sun F, Wang L, Li G, Shao Z (2013) Phylogenetic diversity of the Bacillus pumilus group and the marine ecotype revealed by multilocus sequence analysis. PLoS One 8, e80097. doi:10.​1371/​journal.​pone.​0080097 CrossRef PubMed PubMedCentral
  Manzanera M, Vilchez S, Tunnacliffe A (2004) Plastic encapsulation of stabilized Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas putida. Appl Environ Microbiol 70:3143–3145CrossRef PubMed PubMedCentral
  Massaoud MK, Marokhazi J, Fodor A, Venekei I (2010) Proteolytic enzyme production by strains of the insect pathogen Xenorhabdus and characterization of an early-log-phase-secreted protease as a potential virulence factor. Appl Environ Microbiol 76:6901–6909. doi:10.​1128/​AEM.​01567-10 CrossRef PubMed PubMedCentral
  Matsuyama T, Matsuyama M (2001) Population morphogenesis by cooperative bacteria. Forma 16:307–326
  Mazia D, Schatten G, Sale W (1975) Adhesion of cells to surfaces coated with polylysine. Applications to electron microscopy. J Cell Biol 66:198–200CrossRef PubMed
  Melly E, Cowan AE, Setlow P (2002) Studies on the mechanism of killing of Bacillus subtilis spores by hydrogen peroxide. J Appl Microbiol 93:316–325CrossRef PubMed
  Meyers PR, Gokool P, Rawlings DE, Woods DR (1991) An efficient cyanide-degrading Bacillus pumilus strain. J Gen Microbiol 137:1397–1400CrossRef PubMed
  Molina CA, Osuna A, Vilchez S (2009) Method for enhancing the effectiveness of bacterial strains. Spain Patent WO/2009/133221, 06 April 2009
  Molina CA, Cana-Roca JF, Osuna A, Vilchez S (2010) Selection of a Bacillus pumilus strain highly active against Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) larvae. Appl Environ Microbiol 76:1320–1327. doi:10.​1128/​AEM.​01624-09 CrossRef PubMed PubMedCentral
  Montie TC, Doyle-Huntzinger D, Craven RC, Holder IA (1982) Loss of virulence associated with absence of flagellum in an isogenic mutant of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the burned-mouse model. Infect Immun 38:1296–1298PubMed PubMedCentral
  Montville TJ (1983) Dual-substrate plate diffusion assay for proteases. Appl Environ Microbiol 45:200–204PubMed PubMedCentral
  Munimbazi C, Bullerman LB (1998) Isolation and partial characterization of antifungal metabolites of Bacillus pumilus. J Appl Microbiol 84:959–968CrossRef PubMed
  Newcombe DA, Schuerger AC, Benardini JN, Dickinson D, Tanner R, Venkateswaran K (2005) Survival of spacecraft-associated microorganisms under simulated martian UV irradiation. Appl Environ Microbiol 71:8147–8156. doi:10.​1128/​AEM.​71.​12.​8147-8156.​2005 CrossRef PubMed PubMedCentral
  Nicholson W, Setlow P (1990) Sporulation, germination and outgrowth. In: Harwood CR, Cutting SM (eds) Molecular biological methods for Bacillus. Wiley, Chichester, pp 391–450
  Nicholson WL, Munakata N, Horneck G, Melosh HJ, Setlow P (2000) Resistance of Bacillus endospores to extreme terrestrial and extraterrestrial environments. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev 64:548–572CrossRef PubMed PubMedCentral
  Nishiwaki H, Nakashima K, Ishida C, Kawamura T, Matsuda K (2007) Cloning, functional characterization, and mode of action of a novel insecticidal pore-forming toxin, sphaericolysin, produced by Bacillus sphaericus. Appl Environ Microbiol 73:3404–3411. doi:10.​1128/​AEM.​00021-07 CrossRef PubMed PubMedCentral
  Nithya C, Pandian SK (2010) Isolation of heterotrophic bacteria from Palk Bay sediments showing heavy metal tolerance and antibiotic production. Microbiol Res 165:578–593. doi:10.​1016/​j.​micres.​2009.​10.​004 CrossRef PubMed
  O’Toole GA, Kolter R (1998) Initiation of biofilm formation in Pseudomonas fluorescens WCS365 proceeds via multiple, convergent signalling pathways: a genetic analysis. Mol Microbiol 28:449–461CrossRef PubMed
  Ouoba LI, Diawara B, Jespersen L, Jakobsen M (2007) Antimicrobial activity of Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus pumilus during the fermentation of African locust bean (Parkia biglobosa) for Soumbala production. J Appl Microbiol 102:963–970. doi:10.​1111/​j.​1365-2672.​2006.​03156.​x PubMed
  Padaria JC, Sarkar K, Lone SA, Srivastava S (2014) Molecular characterization of cellulose-degrading Bacillus pumilus from the soil of tea garden, Darjeeling hills, India. J Environ Biol 35:555–561PubMed
  Palleroni NJ, Holmes B (1981) Pseudomonas cepacia sp. nov., nom. rev. Int J Syst Bacteriol 31:479–481CrossRef
  Parvathi A, Krishna K, Jose J, Joseph N, Nair S (2009) Biochemical and molecular characterization of Bacillus pumilus isolated from coastal environment in Cochin, India. Braz J Microbiol 40:269–275. doi:10.​1590/​S1517-8382200900020000​12 CrossRef PubMed PubMedCentral
  Prieto ML, O’Sullivan L, Tan SP, McLoughlin P, Hughes H, Gutierrez M, Lane JA, Hickey RM, Lawlor PG, Gardiner GE (2014) In vitro assessment of marine Bacillus for use as livestock probiotics. Mar Drugs 12:2422–2445. doi:10.​3390/​md12052422 CrossRef PubMed PubMedCentral
  Pusztai M, Fast P, Gringorten L, Kaplan H, Lessard T, Carey PR (1991) The mechanism of sunlight-mediated inactivation of Bacillus thuringiensis crystals. Biochem J 273(Pt 1):43–47CrossRef PubMed PubMedCentral
  Rahman RN, Mahamad S, Salleh AB, Basri M (2007) A new organic solvent tolerant protease from Bacillus pumilus 115b. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 34:509–517. doi:10.​1007/​s10295-007-0222-8 CrossRef PubMed
  Ren J-H, Li H, Wang Y-F, Ye J-R, Yan A-Q, Wu X-Q (2013) Biocontrol potential of an endophytic Bacillus pumilus JK-SX001 against poplar canker. Biol Control 67:421–430CrossRef
  Renau J, Megias L (1998) Manual de Tecnicas de Microscopia Electronica (M.E.T.). Aplicaciones Biologicas. vol ISBN84-338-2470-8. Granada
  Reynolds ES (1963) The use of lead citrate at high pH as an electron-opaque stain in electron microscopy. J Cell Biol 17:208–212CrossRef PubMed PubMedCentral
  Rouquette C, Berche P (1996) The pathogenesis of infection by Listeria monocytogenes. Microbiologia 12:245–258PubMed
  Ruiu L (2013) Brevibacillus laterosporus, a Pathogen of Invertebrates and a Broad-Spectrum Antimicrobial Species Insects 4:476–492
  Ruiu L (2015) Insect Pathogenic Bacteria in Integrate Pest Management Insects 6:352–367
  Ruiu L, Falchi G, Floris I, Marche MG, Mura ME, Satta A (2015) Pathogenicity and characterization of a novel Bacillus cereus sensu lato isolate toxic to the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata Wied. J Invertebr Pathol 126:71–77. doi:10.​1016/​j.​jip.​2015.​01.​010 CrossRef PubMed
  Sanders SK, Alexander EL, Braylan RC (1975) A high-yield technique for preparing cells fixed in suspension for scanning electron microscopy. J Cell Biol 67:476–480CrossRef PubMed PubMedCentral
  Schichnes D, Nemson JA, Ruzin SE (2006) Fluorescent staining method for bacterial endospores. MicroScope 54:91–93
  Shagimardanova EI, Toymentseva AA, Balaban NP, Mardanova AM, Danilova YV, Gusev OA, Kostryukova E, Karpova I, Manolov A, Alexeev D, Sharipova MR (2014) Draft genome sequence of Bacillus pumilus 7P, isolated from the soil of the Tatarstan Republic, Russia. Genome Announc 2 doi:10.​1128/​genomeA.​00599-14
  Skerman V, McGowan V, Sneath P, editors (1989) Approved Lists of Bacterial Names (Amended). 2010/09/01 edn. ASM Press, Washington (DC). doi:NBK814 [bookaccession]
  Solaiman DK, Ashby RD, Foglia TA (2001) Production of polyhydroxyalkanoates from intact triacylglycerols by genetically engineered Pseudomonas. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 56:664–669CrossRef PubMed
  Somerville GA, Proctor RA (2009) At the crossroads of bacterial metabolism and virulence factor synthesis in Staphylococci. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev 73:233–248. doi:10.​1128/​MMBR.​00005-09 CrossRef PubMed PubMedCentral
  Szyniszewska AM, Tatem AJ (2014) Global assessment of seasonal potential distribution of Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae). PLoS One 9, e111582. doi:10.​1371/​journal.​pone.​0111582 CrossRef PubMed PubMedCentral
  Thomas P (2004) Isolation of Bacillus pumilus from in vitro grapes as a long-term alcohol-surviving and rhizogenesis inducing covert endophyte. J Appl Microbiol 97:114–123. doi:10.​1111/​j.​1365-2672.​2004.​02279.​x CrossRef PubMed
  Travers RS, Martin PA, Reichelderfer CF (1987) Selective process for efficient isolation of soil Bacillus spp. Appl Environ Microbiol 53:1263–1266PubMed PubMedCentral
  Uad I, Toledo FL, Pozo C, Silva GA, Gonzalez-Lopez J (2007) Calvo C (2007) Caracterización de bacterias productoras de bioemulgentes aisladas de ambientes marinos. Paper presented at the XXI Congr. Nac. Microbiol, Sociedad Española de Microbiología, Sevilla, Spain
  Vilchez S, Tunnacliffe A, Manzanera M (2008) Tolerance of plastic-encapsulated Pseudomonas putida KT2440 to chemical stress. Extremophiles 12:297–299. doi:10.​1007/​s00792-007-0123-9 CrossRef PubMed
  Ward ES, Ellar DJ (1983) Assignment of the delta-endotoxin gene of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis to a specific plasmid by curing analysis. FEBS Lett 158:45–49CrossRef
  Weiner BA (1978) Isolation and partial characterization of the parasporal body of Bacillus popilliae. Can J Microbiol 24:1557–1561CrossRef PubMed
  Yabuuchi E, Kosako Y, Oyaizu H, Yano I, Hotta H, Hashimoto Y, Ezaki T, Arakawa M (1992) Proposal of Burkholderia gen. nov. and transfer of seven species of the genus Pseudomonas homology group II to the new genus, with the type species Burkholderia cepacia (Palleroni and Holmes 1981) comb. nov. Microbiol Immunol 36:1251–1275CrossRef PubMed
  Yaman M, Erturk O, Aslan I (2010) Isolation of some pathogenic bacteria from the great spruce bark beetle, Dendroctonus micans and its specific predator, Rhizophagus grandis. Folia Microbiol 55:35–38. doi:10.​1007/​s12223-010-0006-9 CrossRef
  Yamanaka H, Moriyoshi K, Ohmoto T, Ohe T, Sakai K (2007) Degradation of bisphenol A by Bacillus pumilus isolated from kimchi, a traditionally fermented food. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 136:39–51CrossRef PubMed
  Yan M, Roehrl MH, Wang JY (2007) Discovery of crystalline inclusions in Bacillus licheniformis that resemble parasporal crystals of Bacillus thuringiensis. Can J Microbiol 53:1111–1115. doi:10.​1139/​W07-076 CrossRef PubMed
  Yu S, Gui J, Wang H (2014) Proteome analysis of Bacillus pumilus extracellular proteins by two dimensional electrophoresis and identification of differential proteins under alkaline stress. Chin J Appl Environ Biol:217–222
  Zhang H, Zhang F, Li Z (2009) Gene analysis, optimized production and property of marine lipase from Bacillus pumilus B106 associated with South China Sea sponge Halichondria rugosa. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 25:1267–1274CrossRef
  Zubasheva MV, Ganushkina LA, Smirnova TA, Azizbekyan RR (2010) Larvicidal activity of crystal-forming strains of Brevibacillus laterosporus. Appl Biochem Microbiol 46:755–762CrossRef
  
• 作者单位：Diana C. Garcia-Ramon (1)
  C. Alfonso Molina (1) (3)
  Antonio Osuna (1)
  Susana Vílchez (1) (2)
  
  1. Institute of Biotechnology, Campus Fuentenueva s/n, University of Granada, 18071, Granada, Spain
  3. Present Address: International Center for Zoonosis (CIZ), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnic, Central University of Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador
  2. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology I, Campus Fuentenueva s/n, University of Granada, 18071, Granada, Spain
  
• 刊物类别：Chemistry and Materials Science
• 刊物主题：Chemistry
  Biotechnology
  Microbiology
  Microbial Genetics and Genomics
  
• 出版者：Springer Berlin / Heidelberg
• ISSN：1432-0614

文摘

In the present work, the local isolate Bacillus pumilus 15.1 has been morphologically and biochemically characterized in order to gain a better understanding of this novel entomopathogenic strain active against Ceratitis capitata. This strain could represent an interesting biothechnological tool for the control of this pest. Here, we report on its nutrient preferences, extracellular enzyme production, motility mechanism, biofilm production, antibiotic suceptibility, natural resistance to chemical and physical insults, and morphology of the vegetative cells and spores. The pathogen was found to be β-hemolytic and susceptible to penicillin, ampicillin, chloramphenicol, gentamicin, kanamycin, rifampicin, tetracycline, and streptomycin. We also report a series of biocide, thermal, and UV treatments that reduce the viability of B. pumilus 15.1 by several orders of magnitude. Heat and chemical treatments kill at least 99.9 % of vegetative cells, but spores were much more resistant. Bleach was the only chemical that was able to completely eliminate B. pumilus 15.1 spores. Compared to the B. subtilis 168 spores, B. pumilus 15.1 spores were between 2.67 and 350 times more resistant to UV radiation while the vegetative cells of B. pumilus 15.1 were almost up to 3 orders of magnitude more resistant than the model strain. We performed electron microscopy for morphological characterization, and we observed geometric structures resembling the parasporal crystal inclusions synthesized by Bacillus thuringiensis. Some of the results obtained here such as the parasporal inclusion bodies produced by B. pumilus 15.1 could potentially represent virulence factors of this novel and potentially interesting strain.