Compositions and methods for conferring pesticidal activity to bacteria, plants, plant cells, tissues and seeds are provided. Compositions comprising a coding sequence for pesticidal polypeptides are provided. The coding sequences can be used in DNA constructs or expression cassettes for transformation and expression in plants and bacteria. Compositions also comprise transformed bacteria, plants, plant cells, tissues, and seeds. In particular, nucleic acid molecules encoding variant Cry3 sequences are provided. Additionally, amino acid sequences corresponding to the polynucleotides are encompassed.