Drosophila tissue cultures and growth media
The first permanent insect cell lines was established 1n 1962 by T. Grace from ovaries of a large lepidopteran, Antheraea. Cultured cells from Drosophila have been studied extensively since 1965, when Echalier et al. (1965) obtained the first bona fide primary cell cultures from dissociated Drosophila embryos. We are using following Drosophila cell lines:
Growth media
The first permanent insect cell lines was established 1n 1962 by T. Grace from ovaries of a large lepidopteran, Antheraea. Cultured cells from Drosophila have been studied extensively since 1965, when Echalier et al. (1965) obtained the first bona fide primary cell cultures from dissociated Drosophila embryos. We are using following Drosophila cell lines:
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Cl8+ cells were derived by cloning from third instar wing imaginal disc cell line originally designated CME W1 (Currie, Milner, Evans, 1988, Development 102:805) by Peel, D. J.; Milner, M. J. The diversity of cell morphology in cloned cell lines derived from Drosophila imaginal discs. Roux's Arch. Dev. Biol. 198: 479-482; 1990). |
| S2 cells were derived from Drosophila whole embryos on the verge of hatching.; originaly described as haing female karyotype, 60 to 80% tetraploid. (Schneider, I. (1971) Drosoph. Inform. Serv. 46, 111.); Other sources show that MSL complex assembles on the X chromosome, implying a male character (Copps et al., 1998). | 
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Kc167 are embryonic cells (from disaggregated young embryos 8 to 12 h old). Kc (a successful subline from the original K line) is fundamentally diploid (up to 90%), with a female chromosomal set (XX), but one single Ivth punctiform chromosome (Echalier, G. & Ohanessian, A. (1969) C. R. Acad. Sci. Hebd. Seances Acad. Sci. D. 268, 1771-1773.), Kc 167. derived from a sample of our original Kc sent, at the time of its 167th passage, to Tissiere's laboratory, in Geneva. |
| Mbn-2 are haematopoietic cells derived from the now lost mutant l(3)mbn (containing malignant blood neoplasm mutation) of of Elisabeth Gateff (Samakovlis, C., Asling, B., Boman, H. G., Gateff, E. & Hultmark, D. (1992) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 188, 1169-1175.). | 
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BG2-c6 neuroblasts were derived from Drosophila larval central nervous system (Ui, K., Nishihara, S., Sakuma, M., Togashi, S., Ueda, R., Miyata, Y. & Miyake, T. (1994) In Vitro Cell. Dev. Biol. 30A, 209-216.), Colonial clones were obtained that all reacted to the antibody to horseradish peroxidase, which is a neuronal marker in insects. |
Growth media
- Drosophila Cl.8+ imaginal wing disk cells were maintained in Shields and Sang medium (Shields, G. & Sang, J. H. (1970) J. Embryol. Exp. Morphol. 23, 53-69.; Sigma, catalog no. S 8398) supplemented with 2% FBS, 2.5% fly extract, and 0.125 international units/ml insulin.
- Shields and Sang medium supplemented with 10% FBS was used for the embryonic S2 and Kc167 cells, as well as the Mbn-2 cell line.
- BG2-c6 cells were maintained in the Shields and Sang medium with 10% FBS and 0.125 international units/ml insulin (10 ug/ml).
- ''Supplement-free medium'' used in some experiments is Shields and Sang medium (catalog no. S 8398) containing yeast extract.
- ''Minimal'' medium (MM) used in some experiments was Shields and Sang medium (Sigma, catalog no. S 8523) lacking yeast extract, supplemented with L-leucine, -Lmethionine, fumaric acid, folic acid, myo-inositol, pyridoxine, riboflavin, and thiamine.