Author
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Lynn, Dwight |
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Submitted to: Journal of Invertebrate Pathology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 9/27/2002 Publication Date: 2/1/2003 Citation: Lynn, D.E. 2003. Comparative susceptibilities of twelve insect cell lines to infection by four baculoviruses. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology. Interpretive Summary: Insect viruses are candidates for use as safe biopesticides for control of agricultural pests. Their production requires a living host cell, which can be living insects or cell cultures. To optimize production, the best cell line needs to be selected. In the current study, 12 cell lines were tested for susceptibility to infection by four candidate viruses from the alfalfa looper, the celery looper, the velvetbean caterpillar, and the cotton bollworm. Each of these has a relatively broad host range, making them suitable for pest control in systems with multiple pest species. The findings suggest that a cell line from the cabbage looper and one from the velvetbean caterpillar were the best for detecting each of these viruses. Scientists and biopesticide producers can utilize these cell lines for quantifying any of the tested viruses. Also, the results and techniques employed can be used as a basis for further studies by the author or others sfor analyzing other viruses and evaluating the cells for productivity of the viruses. Technical Abstract: Twelve insect cell lines were tested for susceptibility to baculovirus infection by use of a typical endpoint assay procedure. Cell lines from Spodoptera frugiperda (IPLB-Sf21AE), Anticarsia gemmatalis (UFL-Ag286), Heliothis virescens (IPLB-HvE1a, IPLB-HvE6a, IPLB-HvE6s and IPLB-HvT1), Lymantria dispar (IPLB-LdEIta and IPLB-LdEp), Plutella xylostella (IPLB-PxE2), and Trichoplusia ni (TN-368, IAL-TND1, and IPLB-TN-R2) in 96-well tissue culture plates were each infected with dilutions of extracellular virus suspensions of four nucleopolyhedroviruses (NPVs), including Autographa californica NPV (AcMNPV), Anagrapha falcifera NPV (AfMNPV), A. gemmatalis NPV (AgMNPV), and Helicoverpa armigera NPV (HaMNPV). The resulting virus titers reveal the relative infectivity of the four viruses to each cell line. Two lines, UFL-Ag286 from A. gemmatalis and IPLB-TN-R2 from Trichoplusia ni were each 20 to 200-fold more sensitive to AcMNPV, AfMNPV and HaMNPV and the Ag286 line was over 600-fold more sensitive to its homologous line as compared to the IPLB-Sf21AE line from Spodoptera frugiperda which was used as a standard. By contrast, the TN368 line, also from T. ni, was less susceptible to all four viruses than Sf21 (by 6 to 20-fold). The results from other cells were more variable between the various viruses. |
