The Universitat de València, fourth in the global ranking of scientific publications about a key bacterium in many insecticides

Culture of B. Thuringiensis. The Universitat de València is in fourth place globally when it comes to the number of scientific publications about the applications of the Bacillus thuringiensis bacterium and its insecticide proteins. The Universitat is also in the eight position for the number of citations of these publications, a fact that proves the impact of the study in this bacterium that appears in many insecticides. Some publications of the Universitat de València are among the 10 that have received more citations, and among the 20 that have been essential when boosting research in some aspects of this field. Especially since the 1960s, Bacillus thuringiensis has been used in agriculture and, later, in the control of mosquito's population so as to be the main active component of many insecticides. This bacterium produces some proteins that, in some individual cases, have a high toxicity to insects. In addition, they are so specific that they do not affect the beneficial fauna, and therefore, it is a good option to include them in the integrated pest control, especially in organic farming.