Primary cell culture

Image of green fluorescence in GFP-tagged Drosophila cultured cells

New cell lines & new understandings using cutting-edge techniques

February 2, 2024

As a facility that supports large-scale screens in Drosophila and other insect cell lines, we get excited about reports of new Drosophila cell lines and related info.

We'd like to highlight two recent papers.

One report, a collaboration between Amanda Simcox's group, the DGRC, and our group here at the DRSC, describes new cell lines made in Amanda's group and characterized in a collaboration of the three groups. Muscle cells that pulse? Yes. That and other exciting new cell lines are reported in the publication below, and the cells are available at the DGRC...

Read more about New cell lines & new understandings using cutting-edge techniques
Nikki Coleman-Gosser, Yanhui Hu, Shiva Raghuvanshi, Shane Stitzinger, Weihang Chen, Arthur Luhur, Daniel Mariyappa, Molly Josifov, Andrew Zelhof, Stephanie E Mohr, Norbert Perrimon, and Amanda Simcox. 2023. “Continuous muscle, glial, epithelial, neuronal, and hemocyte cell lines for research.” Elife, 12.Abstract

Expression of activated Ras, Ras, provides cultured cells with a proliferation and survival advantage that simplifies the generation of continuous cell lines. Here, we used lineage-restricted Ras expression to generate continuous cell lines of muscle, glial, and epithelial cell type. Additionally, cell lines with neuronal and hemocyte characteristics were isolated by cloning from cell cultures established with broad Ras expression. Differentiation with the hormone ecdysone caused maturation of cells from mesoderm lines into active muscle tissue and enhanced dendritic features in neuronal-like lines. Transcriptome analysis showed expression of key cell-type-specific genes and the expected alignment with single-cell sequencing and in situ data. Overall, the technique has produced in vitro cell models with characteristics of glia, epithelium, muscle, nerve, and hemocyte. The cells and associated data are available from the Genomic Resource Center.

2018 Apr 13

DRSC & TRiP Workshop at ADRC

1:45pm to 3:45pm

Location: 

Philadelphia, PA, USA
The DRSC & TRiP will be hosting a workshop at the Annual Drosophila Research Conference in Philadelphia, PA. The workshop is scheduled for Friday, April 13th from 1:45 to 3:45 PM. Come hear from DRSC & TRiP leaders Norbert Perrimon, Jonathan Zirin (organizer), Claire Yanhui Hu, and Stephanie Mohr. At the workshop, you will learn about new opportunities for community nomination and experiments using CRISPR knockout and activation, as well as learn what's new and popular among our online software and database tools. There will be something for everyone -- we will provide information... Read more about DRSC & TRiP Workshop at ADRC
Search results for the term oogenesis at the Drosophila protocols portal

Beta-testing a "Drosophila Protocols Portal"

June 16, 2016

The DRSC-FGR has developed a beta version of a database and online search for protocols, the Drosophila Protocols Portal, relevant to Drosophila research. The goal is to provide a central portal for protocols distributed across the web. We collected protocols from protocol databases, lab websites, YouTube, Drosophila Information Service (DIS), and relevant journals. You can view the results by topic or search for specific terms.

Longer-term goals...

Read more about Beta-testing a "Drosophila Protocols Portal"
Jianwu Bai, Katharine J Sepp, and Norbert Perrimon. 2009. “Culture of Drosophila primary cells dissociated from gastrula embryos and their use in RNAi screening.” Nat Protoc, 4, 10, Pp. 1502-12.Abstract

We provide a detailed protocol for the mass culturing of primary cells dissociated from Drosophila embryos. The advantage of this protocol over others is that we have optimized it for a robust large-scale performance that is suitable for screening. More importantly, we further present conditions to treat these cells with double stranded (ds) RNAs for gene knockdown. Efficient RNAi in Drosophila primary cells is accomplished by simply bathing the cells in dsRNA-containing culture medium. This method provides the basis for functional genomic screens in differentiated cells, such as neurons and muscles, using RNAi or small molecules. The entire protocol takes approximately 14 d, whereas the preparation of primary cells from Drosophila embryos only requires 2-4 h.

Joost Schulte, Katharine J Sepp, Chaohong Wu, Pengyu Hong, and Troy J Littleton. 2011. “High-content chemical and RNAi screens for suppressors of neurotoxicity in a Huntington's disease model.” PLoS One, 6, 8, Pp. e23841.Abstract

To identify Huntington's Disease therapeutics, we conducted high-content small molecule and RNAi suppressor screens using a Drosophila primary neural culture Huntingtin model. Drosophila primary neurons offer a sensitive readout for neurotoxicty, as their neurites develop dysmorphic features in the presence of mutant polyglutamine-expanded Huntingtin compared to nonpathogenic Huntingtin. By tracking the subcellular distribution of mRFP-tagged pathogenic Huntingtin and assaying neurite branch morphology via live-imaging, we identified suppressors that could reduce Huntingtin aggregation and/or prevent the formation of dystrophic neurites. The custom algorithms we used to quantify neurite morphologies in complex cultures provide a useful tool for future high-content screening approaches focused on neurodegenerative disease models. Compounds previously found to be effective aggregation inhibitors in mammalian systems were also effective in Drosophila primary cultures, suggesting translational capacity between these models. However, we did not observe a direct correlation between the ability of a compound or gene knockdown to suppress aggregate formation and its ability to rescue dysmorphic neurites. Only a subset of aggregation inhibitors could revert dysmorphic cellular profiles. We identified lkb1, an upstream kinase in the mTOR/Insulin pathway, and four novel drugs, Camptothecin, OH-Camptothecin, 18β-Glycyrrhetinic acid, and Carbenoxolone, that were strong suppressors of mutant Huntingtin-induced neurotoxicity. Huntingtin neurotoxicity suppressors identified through our screen also restored viability in an in vivo Drosophila Huntington's Disease model, making them attractive candidates for further therapeutic evaluation.

Katharine J Sepp, Pengyu Hong, Sofia B Lizarraga, Judy S Liu, Luis A Mejia, Christopher A Walsh, and Norbert Perrimon. 2008. “Identification of neural outgrowth genes using genome-wide RNAi.” PLoS Genet, 4, 7, Pp. e1000111.Abstract

While genetic screens have identified many genes essential for neurite outgrowth, they have been limited in their ability to identify neural genes that also have earlier critical roles in the gastrula, or neural genes for which maternally contributed RNA compensates for gene mutations in the zygote. To address this, we developed methods to screen the Drosophila genome using RNA-interference (RNAi) on primary neural cells and present the results of the first full-genome RNAi screen in neurons. We used live-cell imaging and quantitative image analysis to characterize the morphological phenotypes of fluorescently labelled primary neurons and glia in response to RNAi-mediated gene knockdown. From the full genome screen, we focused our analysis on 104 evolutionarily conserved genes that when downregulated by RNAi, have morphological defects such as reduced axon extension, excessive branching, loss of fasciculation, and blebbing. To assist in the phenotypic analysis of the large data sets, we generated image analysis algorithms that could assess the statistical significance of the mutant phenotypes. The algorithms were essential for the analysis of the thousands of images generated by the screening process and will become a valuable tool for future genome-wide screens in primary neurons. Our analysis revealed unexpected, essential roles in neurite outgrowth for genes representing a wide range of functional categories including signalling molecules, enzymes, channels, receptors, and cytoskeletal proteins. We also found that genes known to be involved in protein and vesicle trafficking showed similar RNAi phenotypes. We confirmed phenotypes of the protein trafficking genes Sec61alpha and Ran GTPase using Drosophila embryo and mouse embryonic cerebral cortical neurons, respectively. Collectively, our results showed that RNAi phenotypes in primary neural culture can parallel in vivo phenotypes, and the screening technique can be used to identify many new genes that have important functions in the nervous system.

Norbert Perrimon, Jonathan Zirin, and Jianwu Bai. 2011. “Primary cell cultures from Drosophila gastrula embryos.” J Vis Exp, 48.Abstract

Here we describe a method for preparing and culturing primary cells dissociated from Drosophila gastrula embryos. In brief, a large amount of staged embryos from young and healthy flies are collected, sterilized, and then physically dissociated into a single cell suspension using a glass homogenizer. After being plated on culture plates or chamber slides at an appropriate density in culture medium, these cells can further differentiate into several morphologically-distinct cell types, which can be identified by their specific cell markers. Furthermore, we present conditions for treating these cells with double stranded (ds) RNAs to elicit gene knockdown. Efficient RNAi in Drosophila primary cells is accomplished by simply bathing the cells in dsRNA-containing culture medium. The ability to carry out effective RNAi perturbation, together with other molecular, biochemical, cell imaging analyses, will allow a variety of questions to be answered in Drosophila primary cells, especially those related to differentiated muscle and neuronal cells.

Jianwu Bai, Richard Binari, Jian-Quan Ni, Marina Vijayakanthan, Hong-Sheng Li, and Norbert Perrimon. 2008. “RNA interference screening in Drosophila primary cells for genes involved in muscle assembly and maintenance.” Development, 135, 8, Pp. 1439-49.Abstract

To facilitate the genetic analysis of muscle assembly and maintenance, we have developed a method for efficient RNA interference (RNAi) in Drosophila primary cells using double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs). First, using molecular markers, we confirm and extend the observation that myogenesis in primary cultures derived from Drosophila embryonic cells follows the same developmental course as that seen in vivo. Second, we apply this approach to analyze 28 Drosophila homologs of human muscle disease genes and find that 19 of them, when disrupted, lead to abnormal muscle phenotypes in primary culture. Third, from an RNAi screen of 1140 genes chosen at random, we identify 49 involved in late muscle differentiation. We validate our approach with the in vivo analyses of three genes. We find that Fermitin 1 and Fermitin 2, which are involved in integrin-containing adhesion structures, act in a partially redundant manner to maintain muscle integrity. In addition, we characterize CG2165, which encodes a plasma membrane Ca2+-ATPase, and show that it plays an important role in maintaining muscle integrity. Finally, we discuss how Drosophila primary cells can be manipulated to develop cell-based assays to model human diseases for RNAi and small-molecule screens.