Biopesticidal Properties of the Probiotic Brevibacillus laterosporus Strain B.O.D.

Brevibacillus laterosporus strain B.O.D. is a well-established commercial probiotic and antimicrobial microorganism that finds use in human health and in agriculture as a biofertilizer. On the other hand, while B. laterosporus is a well-known entomopathogenic species, the possible insecticidal potential of strain B.O.D. remains unexplored. To address this knowledge gap, this study combined genome sequencing and comparative analysis with other B. laterospours strains and insect bioassays. The genome of B. laterosporus B.O.D. was found to harbor a wide range of genes related to entomopathogenicity encoding putative proteases, chitinases, collagenase-like proteases, mosquitocidal proteins, bacillolysin, and spore-surface proteins. Antimicrobial compounds such as gramicidin and surfactin were also found. Sequence alignment with other well-characterized B. laterosporus strains and analysis revealed significant differences, which support the corresponding differences in insecticidal activity observed when comparing strain B.O.D. with others against a variety of lepidopteran and dipteran pest species. This study reports for the first time the genome of strain B.O.D., providing a comparative analysis and highlighting its insecticidal properties, which appear more moderate compared to previously characterized entomopathogenic strains of the same species. Everything considered, B. laterosporus strain B.O.D. appears to be remarkably versatile, underscoring wide biotechnological potential.