Establishment and characterization of insect cell lines from 10 lepidopteran species

Cell lines from selected lepidopteran species were established for the over all purpose of use in baculovirus production. A total of 36 new cell lines from 10 lepidopteran species were generated, including cell lines from a py ralid, the European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis, a plutellid, the diamon dback moth, Plutella xylostella, as well as eight noctuids: the black cutwo rm, Agrotis ipsilon, the celery looper, Anagrapha falcifera, the velvetbean caterpillar, Anticarsia gemmatalis, the corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea, the tobacco budworm, Heliothis virescens, the beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua , the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, and the cabbage looper, Trichop lusia ni. Tissues used for cell line establishment included fat bodies, ova ries, testes, or whole embryos/larvae/pupae. All the cell lines were subcul tured numerous times, characterized by isoenzyme analysis and/or deoxyribon ucleic acid amplification fingerprinting using polymerase chain reaction, a nd stored in liquid nitrogen. Many of the cell lines were adapted to grow i n serum-free medium, with cell lines from A. ipsilon and H. virescens being adapted to suspension culture using shaker flasks. The potential use for t hese cell lines in baculovirus production is discussed.