ARS Bacterium Toxic To Several Pests

Avatar for Matt Hopkins By Andrea Klosterman Harris|23 May 2007

The new bacterial species, Chromobacterium suttsuga (now called Chromobacterium subtsugae sp. nov.), was also found to be toxic, in varying degrees, to western corn rootworm, southern corn rootworm and diamondback moth. ARS, USDA’s chief scientific research agency, will work to isolate the toxin from the bacteria.

The findings are published in the May issue of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology.