A microbial insecticide from Chromobacterium subtsugae

Marrone Bio Innovations has licensed a technology based on a novel species of Chromobacterium from USDA and is developing it into a microbial bioinsecticide. The development work includes media optimization to maximize the yield of secondary metabolites responsible for insecticidal activity as well as formulation development for increased efficacy and storage stability. Bioactive compounds are extracted from fermentation broths and the resulting crude extracts are fractionated for compound isolation and identification. Work is in progress for media optimization, formulation development and active compound identification. Current formulations are active against a wide variety of insect species in laboratory and greenhouse bioassays. Field assays are underway to study activity against a larger spectrum of insects.