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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Columbia, Missouri » Biological Control of Insects Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #128515
Title: THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A COLORADO POTATO BEETLE PUPAL CELL LINE

Author
item Long, Steve
item McIntosh, Arthur
item Grasela, James
item Goodman, Cynthia

Submitted to: Journal of Applied Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/8/2002
Publication Date: 8/20/2002
Citation: LONG, S.H., MCINTOSH, A.H., GRASELA, J.J., GOODMAN, C.L. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A COLORADO POTATO BEETLE PUPAL CELL LINE. JOURNAL OF APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY. 2002. V. 37(3). P. 447-450.

Interpretive Summary: The Colorado potato beetle (CPB) is an insect pest of important crops such as potatoes, tomatoes and related plants. The purpose of this study was to obtain cells from this insect that could be grown indefinitely in culture similar to bacteria. This study was successful in achieving this purpose and the CPB cell line has been sub-cultured 100 times over a three year period in the laboratory. Since there are very few CPB cell lines and this one is the first that has been started from pupal tissue, it should find useful applications in the study of the CPB that could not be performed readily in the insect.

Technical Abstract: A cell line was established from pupal tissue of the Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). The cell line has been in culture for three years in EX-Cell 401**TM medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum, during which time it has undergone over 100 subcultures. The cell population is heterogenous in nature, consisting of round cells, trapezoid-like cells and elongated cells. The cell population doubling times were estimated to be 3.4 days at P56 and 2.3 days at P111. The cell line did not support replication of Autographa californica nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) recombinants carrying the genes for green and blue fluorescent proteins, but two other cell lines of lepidopteran origin readily expressed these two genes. The cell line was confirmed to have originated from the Colorado potato beetle by the DAF-PCR technique.