To achieve the objectives of the project, as a first step, the acquisition, cultivation and perpetuation of two insect cell lines, Schneider's Drosophila Drosophila Line 2 [D. MEL. (2), SL2], CRL-1963™ and Aedes albopictus [ATC-15] (ATCC® CCL-126), were envisaged, in order to obtain the cell mass indispensable for further experiments, so that access to biological material is independent of seasonal limitations or natural sources.
In the next step, the two cell lines were used to infect with different strains of Wolbachia and the resulting co-cultures were cryopreserved.
Several variants of culture media composition were also tested in order to identify the optimal formula for culturing both single and co-cultured cell lines.