Gindin, G., Department of Entomology, Agricultural Research Organisation, The Volcani Centre, Bet Dagan, Israel
Mendel, Z., Department of Entomology, Agricultural Research Organisation, The Volcani Centre, Bet Dagan, Israel
Levitin, B., Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er-Sheva, Israel
Kumar, P., Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er-Sheva, Israel
Levi, T., Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er-Sheva, Israel
Shahi, P., Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er-Sheva, Israel
Khasdan, V., Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er-Sheva, Israel
Weinthal, D., Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er-Sheva, Israel
Kuznetsova, T., Department of Entomology, Agricultural Research Organisation, The Volcani Centre, Bet Dagan, Israel
Einav, M., Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er-Sheva, Israel
Kushmaro, A., Avram and Stella Goldstein-Goren Department of Biotechnology Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er-Sheva, Israel, National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er-Sheva, Israel, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Protasov, A., Department of Entomology, Agricultural Research Organisation, The Volcani Centre, Bet Dagan, Israel
Zaritsky, A., Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er-Sheva, Israel
Ben-Dov, E., National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er-Sheva, Israel, Department of Life Sciences, Achva Academic College, MP Shikmim, Israel

BACKGROUND: Conventional methods often fail to control the flatheaded borers Capnodis spp., major pests of stone fruit trees; the larvae are protected from insecticides and predation because they feed deep in the roots. A potential solution is transgenic trees producing in their roots toxic compounds such as Cry proteins of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). RESULTS: Toxicities against Capnodis larvae were demonstrated by exploiting a recently designed artificial larval diet and an available collection of field isolated Bt. An isolate of Bt tenebrionis (Btt) from commercial bioinsecticide (Novodor) displayed LC50 and LC95 values of 3.2 and 164mg g-1, respectively, against neonates of Capnodis tenebrionis, whereas values of the most toxic field isolate K-7 were 1.9 and 25.6mg g-1 respectively. Weights of surviving larvae after 1month on diets containing low concentrations of K-7 (0.1-1.0mg g-1) were lower than on Btt or untreated larvae. K-7 was also toxic against larvae of C. cariosa and C. miliaris and found to harbour genes encoding Cry9Ea-like and Cry23Aa/Cry37Aa binary toxins. CONCLUSION: Larvae of Capnodis spp. are susceptible to Bt Cry toxins. Expressing cry genes active against these pests thus seems a feasible solution towards production of transgenic rootstock trees resilient to the pest. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry.