The Tick Cell Biobank: new arthropod cell lines for arbovirus research

The Tick Cell Biobank is the world’s only dedicated culture collection for cell lines derived from ticks and other arthropod vectors. As well as storing and distributing arthropod cell lines and training in their maintenance to UK and international researchers, the Tick Cell Biobank generates novel cell lines from arthropod species and geographic strains not already represented in the collection. Currently, efforts are focussed on European Argas, Dermacentor, Hyalomma, Rhipicephalus and Ixodes spp. ticks, Lutzomyia and Phlebotomus spp. sandflies, Culicoides spp. biting midges, Rhodnius prolixus kissing bugs and Glossina morsitans tsetse flies. Techniques used previously for ticks and insects are applied or adapted for use with embryonic or larval arthropods to generate primary cell and tissue cultures; these primary cultures are then maintained until significant cell multiplication commences and subculture can be attempted, which may take several years. This approach has yielded new cell lines from the soft tick Argas reflexus, the hard tick Hyalomma lusitanicum, the New World sand fly Lutzomyia longipalpis and the UK midge Culicoides nubeculosus. Most of these novel cell lines are now available for arbovirus research through the Tick Cell Biobank.