The present invention relates to a novel antibiotic-producing and
metabolite-producing Bacillus subtilis strain that exhibits insecticidal,
antifungal and antibacterial activity. The supernatant of this novel
strain contains effective insecticidal, antifungal and antibacterial
agents. Also included in the invention is a solvent extractable, small
molecular weight (<10,000 daltons) corn rootworm-active metabolite
produced in the supernatant. Also included in the invention are methods of
protecting or treating plants from fungal and bacterial infections and
corn rootworm infestations comprising the step of applying to the plant an
effective amount of the antibiotic/metabolite-producing novel Bacillus
subtilis strain, the antibiotic/metabolite produced by the novel Bacillus
subtilis strain or a combination thereof, optionally further comprising
another antibiotic-producing bacterial strain and/or a chemical pesticide.
The invention also includes methods of preventing or treating fungal and
bacterial infections using whole broth cultures or supernatants obtained
from cultures of the novel Bacillus subtilis strain alone or in
combination with chemical pesticides and/or other biocontrol agents. The
invention also includes novel antifungal and antibacterial compounds
designated agrastatins and a novel combination comprising an A-type
iturin, a plipastatin, a surfactin and an agrastatin. Methods of treating
or protecting plants from fungal and bacterial infections and corn
rootworm infestations comprising administering the novel agrastatins and
the novel combination comprising an A-type iturin, a plipastatin, a
surfactin and an agrastatin are provided. Further provided is a
lipopeptide extract isolated from strain AQ713 with insecticidal activity
and a surfactin lipopeptide isolated from strain AQ713 with insecticidal
activity.