- COS cells
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COS-7 cells, 40X magnification, confocal microscopy
COS is a cell line often used by biologists when studying the monkey virus SV40. Cells from this line are also often transfected to produce recombinant proteins for molecular biology, biochemistry, and cell biology experiments. Two forms of COS cell lines commonly used are COS-1 and COS-7.
The COS cell line was obtained by immortalizing a CV-1[1] cell line derived from kidney cells of the African green monkey with a version of the SV40 genome that can produce large T antigen but has a defect in genomic replication.[2]
When an expression construct with an SV40 promoter is introduced into COS cells, the vector can be replicated substantially by the large T antigen.
The word COS is an acronym, derived from the cells being CV-1 (simian) in Origin, and carrying the SV40 genetic material.
References
- ^ Jensen FC, Girardi AJ, Gilden RV, Koprowski H (1964) Infection of human and simian tissue cultures with rous sarcoma virus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 52: 53-59. PMID 14192657
- ^ Gluzman Y (1981) SV40-transformed simian cells support the replication of early SV40 mutants. Cell 23: 175-182. PMID 6260373
Categories:- Cell lines
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