A CONTINUOUS CELL-LINE FROM THE CULTURED MARINE FISH GILT-HEAD SEABREAM (SPARUS-AURATA L)

Conspecific cell lines provide an efficient experimental system with m any applications for improving the productivity of commercial fish spe cies. A continuous cell line SAF-1 has been developed from fin tissues of an adult gilt-head seabream (Sparus aurata) without immortalising treatments. The cells grow in DME-F12 basal medium supplemented with 5 % foetal bovine serum at the optimal temperature of 25 degrees C and h ave been sub-cultured approximately 70 times over a 1.5 year period, T hey show a fibroblast-like morphology, high efficiency of plating, dou bling time of 2 days and high survival after being frozen. Karyotype a nd DNA content of the cell line reveal a mostly euploid and rather sta ble cell population, which is of great interest for cytogenetic studie s. This cell line has been shown to be susceptible to several fish vir uses and to bacterial extracellular products. (C) 1997 Elsevier Scienc e B.V.