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Abstract After publication we discovered an error in the identification of the origin of the cell line reported in our article in BMC Biotechnology (2010, 10:50), entitled "Ao38, a new cell line from eggs of the black witch moth, Ascalapha odorata (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is permissive for AcMNPV infection and produces high levels of recombinant proteins". Upon analysis of primary A. odorata cultures, we found that they were contaminated with cells of Trichoplusia ni origin. The origin of the Ao38 cell line was determined as T. ni using three marker genes and the Ao38 cell line was renamed BTI-Tnao38. References to the origin of the cell line as Ascalapha odorata should be replaced with "a cell line of Trichoplusia ni origin". The absence of TNCL virus detection in the BTI-Tnao38 (Ao38) cell line was confirmed using a highly sensitive RT-PCR protocol capable of detecting TNCL virus RNA at approximately 0.018 copies/cell. Because of these observations, we have revised the title of the original article to "Correction: BTI-Tnao38, a new cell line derived from Trichoplusia ni, is permissive for AcMNPV infection and produces high levels of recombinant proteins" and two additional authors were added to reflect their contributions to the analysis of this cell line.

Abstract Background The insect cell line is a critical component in the production of recombinant proteins in the baculovirus expression system and new cell lines hold the promise of increasing both quantity and quality of protein production. Results Seventy cell lines were established by single-cell cloning from a primary culture of cells derived from eggs of the black witch moth (Ascalapha odorata; Lepidoptera, Noctuidae). Among 8 rapidly growing lines, cell line 38 (Ao38) was selected for further analysis, based on susceptibility to AcMNPV infection and production of secreted alkaline phosphatase (SEAP) from a baculovirus expression vector. In comparisons with low-passage High Five (BTI-Tn-5B1-4) cells, infected Ao38 cells produced β-galactosidase and SEAP at levels higher (153% and 150%, respectively) than those measured from High Five cells. Analysis of N-glycans of SEAP produced in Ao38 cells revealed two N-glycosylation sites and glycosylation patterns similar to those reported for High Five and Sf9 cells. Glycopeptide isoforms consisted of pauci- or oligomannose, with and without fucose on N-acetylglucosamine(s) linked to asparagine residues. Estimates of Ao38 cell volume suggest that Ao38 cells are approximately 2.5× larger than Sf9 cells but only approximately 74% of the size of High Five cells. Ao38 cells were highly susceptible to AcMNPV infection, similar to infectivity of Sf9 cells. Production of infectious AcMNPV budded virions from Ao38 cells peaked at approximately 4.5 × 107 IU/ml, exceeding that from High Five cells while lower than that from Sf9 cells. Ao38 cells grew rapidly in stationary culture with a population doubling time of 20.2 hr, and Ao38 cells were readily adapted to serum-free medium (Sf-900III) and to a suspension culture system. Analysis of Ao38 and a parental Ascalapha odorata cell line indicated that these lines were free of the alphanodavirus that was recently identified as an adventitious agent in High Five cell lines. Conclusions Ao38 cells represent a highly productive new insect cell line that will be useful for heterologous protein expression and other applications in biotechnology.

Sex chromosome dosage compensation balances homogametic sex chromosome expression with autosomal expression in the heterogametic sex, leading to sex chromosome expression parity between the sexes. If compensation is incomplete, this can lead to expression imbalance and sex-biased gene expression. Recent work has uncovered an intriguing and variable pattern of dosage compensation across species that includes a lack of complete dosage compensation in ZW species compared with XY species. This has led to the hypothesis that ZW species do not require complete compensation or that complete compensation would negatively affect their fitness. To date, only one study, a study of the moth Bombyx mori, has discovered evidence for complete dosage compensation in a ZW species. We examined another moth species, Manduca sexta, using high-throughput sequencing to survey gene expression in the head tissue of males and females. We found dosage compensation to be complete in M. sexta with average expression between the Z chromosome in males and females being equal. When genes expressed at very low levels are removed by filtering, we found that average autosome expression was highly similar to average Z expression, suggesting that the majority of genes in M. sexta are completely dosage compensated. Further, this compensation was accompanied by sex-specific gene expression associated with important sexually dimorphic traits. We suggest that complete dosage compensation in ZW species might be more common than previously appreciated and linked to additional selective processes, such as sexual selection. More ZW and lepidopteran species should now be examined in a phylogenetic framework, to understand the evolution of dosage compensation.

Systemic viral infection of insects typically begins with the primary infection of midgut epithelial cells (enterocytes) and subsequent transit of the progeny virus in an apical-to-basal orientation into the hemocoel. For insect-vectored viruses, an oppositely oriented process (basal-to-apical transit) occurs upon secondary infection of salivary glands and is necessary for virus transmission to non-insect hosts. To examine this inversely oriented virus transit in these polarized tissues, we assessed the intracellular trafficking of two model viral envelope proteins (baculovirus GP64 and vesicular stomatitis virus G) in the midgut and salivary gland cells of the model insect, Drosophila melanogaster. Using fly lines that inducibly express either GP64 or VSV G, we found that each protein, expressed alone, was trafficked basally in midgut enterocytes. In salivary gland cells, VSV G was trafficked apically in most but not all cells, whereas GP64 was consistently trafficked basally. We demonstrated that a YxxØ motif present in both proteins was critical for basal trafficking in midgut enterocytes but dispensable for trafficking in salivary gland cells. Using RNAi, we found that clathrin adaptor protein complexes AP-1 and AP-3, as well as seven Rab GTPases, were involved in polarized VSV G trafficking in midgut enterocytes. Our results indicate that these viral envelope proteins encode the requisite information and require no other viral factors for appropriately polarized trafficking. In addition, they exploit tissue-specific differences in protein trafficking pathways to facilitate virus egress in the appropriate orientation for establishing systemic infections and vectoring infection to other hosts. IMPORTANCE Viruses that use insects as hosts must navigate specific routes through different insect tissues to complete their life cycles. The routes may differ substantially depending on the life cycle of the virus. Both insect pathogenic viruses and insect-vectored viruses must navigate through the polarized cells of the midgut epithelium to establish a systemic infection. In addition, insect-vectored viruses must also navigate through the polarized salivary gland epithelium for transmission. Thus, insect-vectored viruses appear to traffic in opposite directions in these two tissues. In this study, we asked whether two viral envelope proteins (VSV G and baculovirus GP64) alone encode the signals necessary for the polarized trafficking associated with their respective life cycles. Using Drosophila as a model to examine tissue-specific polarized trafficking of these viral envelope proteins, we identified one of the virus-encoded signals and several host proteins associated with regulating the polarized trafficking in the midgut epithelium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]