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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Maricopa, Arizona » U.S. Arid Land Agricultural Research Center » Pest Management and Biocontrol Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #183900
Title: CHARACTERIZATION OF CELL LINES DEVELOPED FROM THE GLASSY-WINGED SHARPSHOOTER, HOMALODISCA COAGULATA (HEMIPTERA: CICADELLIDAE)

Author
item KAMITA, SHIZUO - U CA DAVIS, CA
item DO, ZUNG - U CA DAVIS, CA
item SAMRA, AMAN - U CA DAVIS, CA
item Hagler, James
item HAMMOCK, BRUCE - U CA DAVIS, CA

Submitted to: In Vitro Cellular and Developmental Biology - Animal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/1/2005
Publication Date: 6/1/2005
Citation: Kamita, S.G., Do, Z.N., Samra, A.I., Hagler, J.R. 2005. Charactrization of cell lines developed from the glassy-winged sharpshooter, homalodisca coagulata (hemiptera: cicadellidae). In Vitro Cellular and Developmental Biology - Animals 41: 149-153.

Interpretive Summary: The glassy-winged sharpshooter (GWSS) is an insect that feeds on the xylem fluid of plants. GWSS has established itself as an invasive species in southern California during the 1990s. GWSS is an important agricultural pest insect due to its ability to transmit bacterial pathogens such as Pierce’s Disease (PD) during feeding. PD induces disease in a number of high-value agricultural plantings including grape, almond, citrus, and stone fruit as well as ornamental plantings such as oleander, and forest trees such as oak, sycamore, elm, and maple. There is no known cure for PD. PD has been documented in California since the 1880s, however, during the 1990s a new outbreak of PD was identified which showed higher rates of spread. These outbreaks were soon linked to the invasive GWSS, which in comparison to native Californian sharpshooters travels over greater distances at faster rates, and has unique feeding behaviors that are conducive for disease transmission. Although GWSS can be reared in a greenhouse on single host plant species such as soybean with some success, mass rearing of GWSS is difficult and an artificial diet is not available for GWSS or other leafhopper species. Additionally, in most regions of the U.S., appropriate containment facilities and governmental permits are required to rear GWSS. Thus, there are limitations in the use of GWSS as an in vivo model system. In this report, we describe the establishment and characterization of four cell lines derived from GWSS embryos that can be cultured in media that is commercially available or can be simply prepared in the laboratory.

Technical Abstract: Four continuous cell lines were established from the embryos of the glassy-winged sharpshooter, Homalodisca coagulata, an economically important insect vector of bacterial pathogens of grape, almond, citrus, oleander, and other agricultural and ornamental plantings. The cell lines were designated GWSS-Z10, GWSS-B15, GWSS-G3, and GWSS-LH. The GWSS-Z10, GWSS-B15, and GWSS-G3 lines were cultured in Ex-Cell 401 medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS), whereas the GWSS-LH line was cultured in LH medium supplemented with 20% FBS. The cell lines were characterized in terms of their morphology, growth, protein composition, and polymerase chain reaction amplification patterns of their chromosomal DNA. The population doubling times of GWSS-Z10, GWSS-B15, GWSS-G3, and GWSS-LH were 46.2, 90.9, 100.3, and 60.2 hours, respectively.