Tissue Culture of Monolayer Cell Lines of Colladonus montanus (Homoptera: Cicadellidae) a Vector of the Causal Agent of Western X-Disease of Peach1

Abstract

A cell line of the leafhopper Colladonus montanus (Van Duzee) has been maintained for over 2 years as a monolayer in flask tissue culture. Cultures were initially set up as primary explants in petri dishes, and of 3 distinct cell lines isolated from them, only 1 type has survived. The surviving type has the typical appearance of large epithelial-like cells, slightly enlongated, with dark granules in the cytoplasm and large round nuclei. Both of the cell lines that died had much smaller cells. The cells of 1 line were elongated, with small nuclei and relatively few granules in the cytoplasm; the other line consisted of very small round cells with many inclusion bodies and vacuoles. Western X-disease infectivity was not recovered from C. montanus cell cultures that had been previously seeded with Western X inoculum.