Isolation in Natural Host Cell Lines of Strains Pip from the Mosquito and Pap from the Sand Fly .

Endosymbiotic intracellular bacteria of the genus are harboured by many species of invertebrates. They display a wide range of developmental, metabolic and nutritional interactions with their hosts and may impact the transmission of arboviruses and protozoan parasites. have occasionally been isolated during insect cell line generation. Here, we report the isolation of two strains of , Pip and Pap, during cell line generation from their respective hosts, the mosquito and the sand fly . Pip was pathogenic for both new cell lines, CPE/LULS50 and CLP/LULS56, requiring tetracycline treatment to rescue the lines. In contrast, Pap was tolerated by the cell line PPL/LULS49, although tetracycline treatment was applied to generate a -free subline. Both strains were infective for a panel of heterologous insect and tick cell lines, including two novel lines generated from the sand fly , LLE/LULS45 and LLL/LULS52. In all cases, Pip was more pathogenic for the host cells than Pap. These newly isolated strains, and the novel mosquito and sand fly cell lines reported here, will add to the resources available for research on host-endosymbiont relationships, as well as on , , and the pathogens that they transmit.