Abstract
Summary The genetic relationship among 103 natural Bacillus thuringiensis isolates was investigated on the basis of polymerase chain reaction amplification of their specific crystal ( cry ) protein type genes and chromosomal DNA profiling by pulsed‐field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). The strains were recovered from the intestines of small wild rodents and insectivores from the Biebrza National Park and the Łomża Landscape Park of the Narew River Valley in north‐east Poland. The percentage of B. thuringiensis strains harbouring genes coding for toxins active against Lepidoptera ( cry1 , cry2 , cry9 ) was very high (64%) compared with that of Diptera‐specific strains ( cry4 , 14%). No strain with cry genes coding for proteins directed against coleopteran larvae and nematodes was found. After digestion with Not I and Asc I, only nine PFGE pulsotypes were observed among all isolates, indicating a clonal structure for the B. thuringiensis population from NE Poland. Interestingly, no correlation was observed between the DNA pulsotype strains and their crystal gene content and diversity. These results therefore emphasize the importance of cry gene horizontal transfer occurring among natural isolates of B. thuringiensis .