INITIATION OF EPITHELIAL CELL CULTURES FROM PALLEAL BUDS OF BOTRYLLUS SCHLOSSERI, A COLONIAL TUNICATE

摘要

While expertise in invertebrate tissue culture is still limited largely to terrestrial arthropods, the recent extensive studies on marine invertebrate immunology and developmental and cellular biology have initiated parallel efforts to develop novel tissue culture techniques in a variety of marine taxa. This is also true for tunicates (Urochordata), one of the most highly evolved invertebrate taxa, in which recent studies have shown that different types of cells are amenable to culture (5-7). As such, proliferative cultures were initiated from pharyngeal explants (5), blood cells (6), and blastomers (7). Here, we present the initiation of epithelial cell cultures from isolated palleal buds of the colonial tunicate, Botryllus schlosseri.