The invention provides nucleic acids, and variants and fragments thereof, obtained from strains of Bacillus thuringiensis encoding Cry9 δ-endotoxins having pesticidal activity against insect pests, including Lepidoptera . Particular embodiments of the invention provide isolated nucleic acids encoding pesticidal proteins, expression cassettes, and transformed plants comprising a nucleic acid of the invention.
1. An isolated nucleic acid comprising a nucleotide sequence that encodes a polypeptide having pesticidal activity against at least one pest, wherein said nucleotide sequence is selected from the group consisting of:
(a) the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:3, 26, or 30;
(b) a nucleotide sequence encoding the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:4, 27, or 31; and
(c) a nucleotide sequence having at least 95% sequence identity across the full length of a nucleotide sequence of (a).
2. The nucleic acid of claim 1 , wherein said nucleic acid is optimized for expression in a plant.
3. An expression cassette comprising a nucleic acid according to claim 1 , wherein said nucleic acid is operably linked to a promoter that drives expression in a microorganism or in a plant cell.
4. A transformed plant comprising in its genome at least one stably incorporated nucleotide construct comprising a nucleotide sequence that encodes a polypeptide that is pesticidal for at least one pest belonging to the order Lepidoptera, wherein said coding sequence is operably linked to a promoter that drives expression in a plant cell and wherein said coding sequence is selected from the group consisting of:
(a) the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:3, 26, or 30;
(b) a nucleotide sequence encoding the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:4, 27, or 31;
(c) a nucleotide sequence characterized by at least 95% sequence identity across the full length of a nucleotide sequence of (a); and
(e) a nucleotide sequence according to any one of (a) to (c) that has been mutated to comprise codons optimized for expression in a plant.
5. The plant of claim 4 , wherein said plant is a monocot.
6. The plant of claim 4 , wherein said plant is a dicot.
7. Transformed seed of the plant of claim 4 , wherein the seed comprises the nucleotide construct.