Culturing Drosophila melanogaster (S2) in a chemostat

• Published in: Biotechnology letters Vol. 37; no. 3; pp. 533 - 538
• Main Authors: Vieira, Paula Bruzadelle, da Costa, Bruno Labate Vale, de Fatima Pires Augusto, Elisabeth, Tonso, Aldo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer-Verlag 01.03.2015; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animals; Applied Microbiology; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; biopharmaceuticals; Bioremediation; Biotechnology; Cell Culture Techniques; Cell Line; Constraining; Culture; Culture Media, Serum-Free - chemistry; Drosophila; Drosophila melanogaster; Glucose; Glucose - analysis; Glutamine; Glutamine - analysis; Glycoproteins; Glycoproteins - genetics; Glycoproteins - metabolism; Insects; Life Sciences; Maintenance; Microbiology; Original Research Paper; Rabies virus; Rabies virus - genetics; Recombinant Proteins - genetics; Recombinant Proteins - metabolism; specific growth rate; Steady state; vaccines; Viral Proteins - genetics; Viral Proteins - metabolism; Bioreactor; Bioprocess engineering; Rabies virus glycoprotein; Insect cell; Continuous culture
• ISSN: 0141-5492; 1573-6776
• DOI: 10.1007/s10529-014-1717-9

Insect cells are used for the expression of complex proteins in products such as vaccines and biopharmaceuticals. Physiology of a Drosophila melanogaster (lineage S2), transfected to stably express rabies virus glycoprotein (RVGP), was studied in batch culture and in a chemostat with serum-free medium. In batch mode, the system reached 3 × 10⁷ cells mL⁻¹with specific growth rate of 1.5 d⁻¹with RVGP at 2.50 µg L⁻¹. When operated continuously, three well-defined steady states were achieved at dilution rates (D) of 0.8, 0.5 and 0.2 d⁻¹. The residual glucose and glutamine concentrations and the cell yields on glucose and glutamine decreased at lower D. High values of substrate consumption for maintenance may explain this variation in yields. The results indicated that glucose is not the limiting substrate of this process.