Abstract
Cultured cells offer a wide range of usages for studies of insect physiology, toxicology and pathology. Embryonic eggs from western flower thrips (WFT) were used to develop primary cell cultures for studies of the replication of tomato spotted wilt virus (tospoviruses) in their thrips vectors. Development of a thrips cell culture allows examination of virus-vector interactions at the cellular level. Several insect cell culture media were evaluated for suitability to establish primary thrips cell cultures. The best combination of media allowed cells to survive for 100 d. Two types of cells were readily observed. Within 1-2 d after initiating a culture, fibroblast-like cells become the dominant cell type, and at ≈20 d, epithelial-like cells were observed. These cells were subsequently subcultured to develop a thrips-cell line.
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