Avermectin Overexpression
To kill termites more efficiently and effectively, we choose both——insecticidal small molecule avermectin and several toxic proteins. We plan to overexpress avermectin in its host Streptomyces avermitilis and express three kinds of toxic protein in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3).
Toxic Protein Manufacture
In order to kill termites, we have chosen four types of insecticidal toxic proteins, respectively Tc protein tcdA1, tcdB1, bt-like Plu0840 and enterotoxin-like Plu1537, from Photorhabdus luminescens TT01, a bacterium of native toxin storehouse. Then we cloned these genes from the genome of TT01, constructed corresponding vectors, successfully expressed these proteins in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3).
CNC Carrier
To prevent the bacteria from being released into environment or simply being degraded without completing its mission, and to reduce termites’ resistance towards toxins; we designed bacteria carriers self-assembled from the generated cellulose nanocrystals (CNC).
The CNC carrier has multiple functions, which perfectly adapts to our termite terminator. CNC is an original brand-new chemical application. We hope the nano-crystal technology could be promoted more widely, not only be used in termite terminator.
Termite Simulation
It is unwarranted if we only engage in idle theorizing about termites' behavior and only do the genetic engineering experiments. Thus we carried out a series of termite experiments in order to achieve our goals : the attraction effect of baits; worker termites which carry the baits and return to the nest being alive,then finishing trophallaxis, the whole nest being dead after receiving food because of the toxins.
