Insect Tissue Culture: An Overview, 1971-1978

Abstract

The field of insect tissue culture has been the subject of five general reviews since 1958 (43, 65, 103, 105, 114). Furthermore, insect tissue culture has also been covered in more general reviews of invertebrate tissue culture by Jones (115) and by four books since 1970 (141, 163, 220, 254). The latter are compilations of chapters or articles by individual authors and cover a diversity of organisms and subject matters. In addition, there have been a number of specialized reviews that cover specific areas of insect tissue culture. These will be covered with the appropriate subject matter. The subject of insect tissue culture has appeared twice previously in the Annual Review of Entomology (43, 65). One general review has appeared since that time (105), and the reader is referred to these reviews for papers appearing before 1971 and for an historical background. I will try to sum­ marize and place into perspective some of the most important work done in insect tissue culture during the last seven years since it is impossible to cover all the work in the pages available for this review. I have separated the work into two subdivisions: first, the oldest and most prolific area, organ cultures, their establishment and use in studies of devel­ opment, physiology, and biochemistry; and the second area, cell cultures, their establishment and use in studies of cell biology. The use of insect cell and organ cultures as substrates for the culture of commensal or parasitic