Long-term cultivation of in vitro Apis mellifera cells by gene transfer of human c-myc proto-oncogene.

Establishment of cell lines representative of honeybee character would greatly assist in their analysis. Here, we show that immortalized cell line, designated as MYN9, has been generated from honeybee embryo by the gene transfer of human c-myc proto-oncogene. The morphology of the cell is characteristic of embryonic stem cell, although the cell is stable and does not spontaneously differentiate. Polymerase chain reaction analyses show that the cell is originated from authentic honeybee cell. It is proposed that the integration of human c-myc gene into honeybee precursor populations results in the establishment of stable cell line suitable for cellular and molecular studies.