Long-term maintenance of in vitro cultured honeybee (Apis mellifera) embryonic cells

Background: In vitro cultivation of cells allows novel investigation of in vivo-mechanisms and is a helpful tool in developmental biology, biochemistry and functional genomics. Numerous cell lines of insect species, e. g., silkworm and mosquito, have been reported. However, this is not the case for successful long-term cultivation of cells in honeybees. Results: Methods for cultivation of honeybee embryonic cells are discussed here. Pre-gastrula stage embryos were used to initiate cultures, and cells were reared on 96-wells microplates with Grace insect medium, supplemented with Fetal Bovine Serum. Cells proliferated in clusters, and maintained viable and mitotic for more than three months. Conclusion: We report here, for the first time, long-term cultivation of honeybee cells. Results represent a highly useful in vitro-system for studying a model organism of increasing importance in areas such as aging, sociality and neurobiology.