Here we describe the establishment of a new cell line, NTU-MV, derived from pupal tissues of an economically important pest, the
legume pod borer Maruca vitrata. This cell line contained four major cell types: polymorphic cells, round cells, spindle-shaped cells, and
comma cells. The doubling time of MV cells in TNM-FH medium supplemented with 8% FBS at 28 C was 27 h. The chromosome
numbers of MV cells varied widely from 16 to 268. Compared to other insect cell lines, the MV cell line produced distinct isozyme
patterns with esterase, malate dehydrogenase (MDH), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). Confirmation that NTU-MV was derived from
M. vitrata was demonstrated by showing that the sequence of the internal transcribed spacer regions (ITS) of the MV cells was 98%
identical to that of M. vitrata larvae. Two NTU-MV cell strains, NTU-MV1 and NTU-MV56, were selected based on susceptibility
to MaviMNPV (M. vitrata multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus). NTU-MV, MV1, and MV56 cells showed a high susceptibility to
MaviMNPV and produced high yields of polyhedra (47–50 OBs/cell, 4 · 107–5.96 · 107 OBs/ml) after 2 weeks of MaviMNPV infection.
We conclude that the NTU-MV cell line will be a useful tool for studying MaviMNPV as well as for the mass production of MaviMNPV
polyhedra for the biocontrol of M. vitrata.