Editing Biological pest control (section)

====Bacteria====

Bacteria used for biological control infect insects via their digestive tracts, so they offer only limited options for controlling insects with sucking mouth parts such as aphids and scale insects.<ref>{{cite book |author=Swan, L.A. |date=1964 |title=Beneficial Insects |url=https://archive.org/details/beneficialinsect0000swan |url-access=registration |page= [https://archive.org/details/beneficialinsect0000swan/page/249 249]|publisher=New York, Harper & Row }}</ref> ''[[Bacillus thuringiensis]]'', a soil-dwelling bacterium, is the most widely applied species of bacteria used for biological control, with at least four sub-species used against [[Lepidoptera]]n ([[moth]], [[butterfly]]), [[Coleoptera]]n (beetle) and [[Diptera]]n (true fly) insect pests. The bacterium is available to organic farmers in sachets of dried spores which are mixed with water and sprayed onto vulnerable plants such as [[brassica]]s and [[fruit tree]]s.<ref name=Lemaux>{{cite journal |doi=10.1146/annurev.arplant.58.032806.103840 |title=Genetically Engineered Plants and Foods: A Scientist's Analysis of the Issues (Part I) |year=2008 |last1=Lemaux |first1=Peggy G. |journal=Annual Review of Plant Biology |volume=59 |issue=1 |pages=771–812 |pmid=18284373|bibcode=2008AnRPB..59..771L }}</ref><ref name=McGaughey>{{cite journal | last1 = McGaughey | first1 = W. H. | last2 = Gould | first2 = F. | last3 = Gelernter | first3 = W. | year = 1998 | title = Bt resistance management | journal = Nat. Biotechnol. | volume = 16 | issue = 2| pages = 144–6 | doi = 10.1038/nbt0298-144 | pmid = 9487517 | s2cid = 37947689 }}</ref> [[Gene]]s from ''B. thuringiensis'' have also been incorporated into [[Genetically modified crops|transgenic crops]], making the plants express some of the bacterium's toxins, which are [[protein]]s. These confer resistance to insect pests and thus reduce the necessity for pesticide use.<ref name=Kumar>{{Cite book| last1=Kumar | first1=PA | last2=Malik | first2=VS | last3=Sharma | first3=RP | year=1996 | title=Insecticidal proteins of Bacillus thuringiensis | journal=Advances in Applied Microbiology | volume=42 | pages=1–43 | doi=10.1016/S0065-2164(08)70371-X | pmid=8865583 | isbn=9780120026425  | url=https://zenodo.org/record/1259743 }}</ref> If pests develop resistance to the toxins in these crops, ''B. thuringiensis'' will become useless in organic farming also.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Neppl |first1=Camilla |title=Management of Resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis Toxins |url=http://camillapede.tripod.com/bapaper.html |date=26 May 2000 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170421000124/http://camillapede.tripod.com/bapaper.html |archive-date=21 April 2017 }}</ref><ref name=McGaughey/>
The bacterium ''[[Paenibacillus popilliae]]'' which causes [[Milky spore|milky spore disease]] has been found useful in the control of [[Japanese beetle]], killing the larvae. It is very specific to its host species and is harmless to vertebrates and other invertebrates.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biocontrol.entomology.cornell.edu/pathogens/paenibacillus.php |title=Biological control: ''Paenibacillus popilliae'' |publisher=Cornell University |access-date=15 June 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160621024151/http://www.biocontrol.entomology.cornell.edu/pathogens/paenibacillus.php |archive-date=21 June 2016 }}</ref>

''[[Bacillus]]'' spp.,<ref group="M" name="biocontrol-MoAs">p.{{nbs}}94-5, II. Biocontrol Modes of Action</ref> [[fluorescent Pseudomonad]]s,<ref group="M" name="biocontrol-MoAs" /> and [[Streptomycete]]s are controls of various fungal pathogens.<ref group="M" name="intro-examples-agents">p.{{nbs}}94</ref>