title: Replication of a Mamestra brassicae nuclear polyhedrosis virus in a newly established Mamestra brassicae cell line.
abstract: A continuous cell line, designated MbL-3, was newly established from minced neonate larvae of the cabbage armyworm, Mamestra brassicae. This new cell line is heteroploid, containing triploid cells predominantly at the frequency of about 50%. Doubling time of the cell population is 33 hrs. The Akutsu isolate of a Mamestra brassicae nuclear polyhedrosis virus (MbNPV) was examined for replication in 16 continuous cell lines, including the cell line MbL-3, from seven lepidoptera species: Mamestra brassicae, Pseudaletia separata, Spodoptera exigua, Spodoptera frugiperda, Spodoptera littoralis, Spodoptera litura and Plutella xylostella. Of these cell lines, only the MbL-3 cells supported a high replication of the virus. Four other Mamestra cell lines and a P. separata cell line showed a low virus-susceptibility, while the other cell lines were not permissive for the virus infection. Maximum infection rate of MbL-3 cells to the Akutsu isolate was 23.4%. The growth kinetics of this virus isolate in MbL-3 cells showed that the virus was released from infected cells 24 hrs p.i. and reached a maximal titer 96 hrs p.i. The number of polyhedral inclusion bodies (PIBs) reached a maximum of 10(7.5) PIBs/ml 120 hrs p.i.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biological Control, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Funakoshi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hara
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kawarabata
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002455:Cell Division; D002460:Cell Line; D007700:Kinetics; D009036:Moths / Q000821:virology*; D017924:Nucleopolyhedroviruses / Q000502:physiology*; D014779:Virus Replication