An experiment was conducted to evaluate the use of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) as a probiotic to enhance the cellular innate immune response of the African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) challenged with a bacterial fish pathogen, Aeromonas hydrophila.
A novel Bacillus thuringiensis strain highly toxic to mosquitoes was isolated from soil samples in Malaysia. This strain was shown to display a new subfraction of the H-28 flagellar antigen determining a new serovar H28a28c, which was designated serovar jegathesan. Bioassays indicated that Culex quinquefasciatus larvae are the most susceptible to this new isolate, whereas toxicity to Anopheles maculatus and Aedes aegypti larvae was 10 times lower. The potency of this new serotype is also comparable to most of the Malaysian B. thuringiensis H-14 isolates.