Continuous muscle, glial, epithelial, neuronal, and hemocyte cell lines for Drosophila research

Expression of activated Ras, Ras(V12), provides Drosophila cultured cells with a proliferation and survival advantage that simplifies the generation of continuous cell lines. Here, we used lineage-restricted Ras(V12) 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(V12) 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 Drosophila Genomic Resource Center.