Characterization of Five Cell Lines Established from Species of Heliothis

Five cell lines established from pupal ovaries of 2 species of Heliothis are described and characterized as to cellular morphology, growth, chromosome number, and isozyme-isoelectric focusing patterns. Cells of all 5 lines ranged in shape from subspherical to elipsoid. Maximum cell population of H. zea-derived lines ranged from 9.97±0.32×10X5 to 12.00±0.44×10X5 cells/ml, X2 and those from the 2 H. virescens-derived lines averaged 9.82±0.54×10X5 and 10.85±0.44×10X5 cells/ml. Cell doubling time of the H. virescens lines averaged ca. 37 h and for H. Zea lines ca. 31 h. Rate of growth among the 5 lines differed little. No distinct chromosome markers were detected in any of the lines, and chromosomes were typical of those described from other species of Lepidoptera. More than 90% of the cells contained 40 to 180 chromosomes/cell. Isoelectric focusing employing the enzyme phosphoglucoisomerase (PGI) clearly differentiated between cell lines of H. zea and H. virescens as well as between the three H. zea cell lines.