Brevibacillus is a spore-forming bacterium that has been suggested for probiotic effects. For example, Brevibacillus brevis is now well established as a biocontrol agent in many areas, and has been shown to have efficacy against Botrytis and powdery mildew disease (Edwards and Seddon, Edwards and Seddon (1992) Recent Advances in Botrytis Research. The Netherlands: Pudoc Scientific Publications; Bacillus brevis as a Biocontrol Agent against Botrytis cinerea on Protected Chinese Cabbage; pp. 267-271) and Fusarum head blight (FHB) (Zhang et al. (2005) J Zhejiang Univ Sci B. 6(8):770-777). By comparing the activity of B. brevis Nagano against Botrytis cinerea with that of pure gramicidin S and the antibiotic-negative mutant B. brevis E-1, Edwards and Seddon ((2001) J Appl Microbiol. 91:652-659) showed that the mode of antagonism exhibited was antibiosis due to the presence of gramicidin S. There are some other antibiotics (for example tyrocidins and gramicidin D) reported to be produced by B. brevis (Saito et al., 1970, Adv Enzymol. 33:337-380).
Brevibacillus laterosporus comb. nov. (Shida (1996) Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 46:939-946), previously classified as Bacillus laterosporus, is an aerobic spore-forming bacterium that can also demonstrate pathogenicity to insects. In common with B. sphaericus and B. thuringiensis, B. laterosporus produces parasporal bodies, which in this species may be canoe-shaped and which serve to cradle the spore (Hanney (1957) J. Biophys. Biochem. Cytol. 3:1001-1010) or can even be present in different shapes (Smirnova et al. (1996) Res. Microbiol. 147:343-350). However, these parasporal bodies were not considered to have any entomocidal activity (Favret and Yousten (1985) J. Invertebr. Pathol. 45:195-203) until Orlova et al. ((1998) Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 64:2723-2725) demonstrated that some crystals produced during sporulation are highly toxic to Aedes aegypti and Anopheles stephensi larvae.
Some B. laterosporus strains show no apparent toxic activity to any test organism, and the observed toxicity is not homogeneous among toxic isolates (Favret and Yousten (1985) J. Invertebr. Pathol. 45:195-203, Rivers et al. (1991) J. Invertbr. Pathol. 58:444-447, and Singer (1996) Adv. Appl. Microbiol. 42:219-261). The results of the first bioassays with B. laterosporus demonstrated that some strains presented a larvicidal activity which was 1,000 times lower than that of the B. thuringiensis var. israelensis standard (Favret and Yousten (1985), Rivers et al. (1991)). These results discouraged the use of B. laterosporus in biological control. No entomocidal activity has been demonstrated against plant pathogens using isolates of Brevibacillus sp.