Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine whether a recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) vector encoding a transgene could be used to infect and express a foreign gene in embryonic primary cell cultures derived from the freshwater microcrustacean
Daphnia
, the most widely used ecotoxicological model organism. To facilitate the evaluation of gene transfer, a reproducible method for establishing primary cultures from
Daphnia
embryonic tissues was developed. Within 24 hr after infection, transgene expression could be detected in cell culture. VSV was found to replicate in the cells with no apparent cytopathic effect. Here we report the first evidence of gene transfer and foreign gene expression in cultures of
Daphnia
embryonic cells using a recombinant viral vector.
