The subspecies was part of a collection at the Institute for Medical Research, Malaysia.

A biochemical analysis found that the mosquitocidal cry toxin is coded by four genes in an operon: cry16Aa, cry17Aa, cbm17.1, and cbm17.2.

When the four genes were individually expressed, none of the four proteins encoded exhibited mosquitocidal activity.

A single promoter was found upstream of the four genes, indicating that the four were likely to be expressed simultaneously.

Thus, the genes accountable for the toxicity towards Anopheles are different than those controlled by the cry operon; rather, the toxins selectively target Aedes mosquito larvae, in which they cause high mortality.