Establishment and characterization of a cell line from the mosquito Culex tritaeniorhynchus (Diptera: Culicidae).
We established a continuous cell line from the embryo of the mosquito Culex tritaeniorhynchus Giles (Diptera: Culicidae), a known major vector of the Japanese encephalitis virus (family Flaviviridae, genus Flavivirus) in Asia. The cell line, designated NIID-CTR, was serially subcultured in VP-12 medium supplemented with 10 % heat-inactivated fetal bovine serum (FBS). It continued to grow for more than 60 passages over a 750-d period. The NIID-CTR cell line mainly comprised two morphologically distinct types of cells with adhesive properties: spindle-shaped and round cells. Most of the NIID-CTR cells at the 45th passage were diploid (2n = 6). The growth kinetics of the NIID-CTR cells was significantly affected by the FBS concentration in the medium. The population doubling time of the NIID-CTR cells was 20 h in the presence of 10 % FBS and 76 h in its absence. The DNA sequence of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene confirmed that the NIID-CTR cell line was derived from C. tritaeniorhynchus. The cells were highly susceptible to Japanese encephalitis and Dengue viruses, thus providing a valuable tool for the study of mosquito-borne flaviviruses.
Department of Medical Entomology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan.
Ryusei
R
Kuwata
Keita
K
Hoshino
Haruhiko
H
Isawa
Yoshio
Y
Tsuda
Shigeru
S
Tajima
Toshinori
T
Sasaki
Tomohiko
T
Takasaki
Mutsuo
M
Kobayashi
Kyoko
K
Sawabe
D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002460:Cell Line; D003465:Culex / Q000166:cytology* / Q000821:virology; D003716:Dengue Virus / Q000472:pathogenicity; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D004664:Encephalitis Virus, Japanese / Q000472:pathogenicity; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D061251:Primary Cell Culture; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV