| Summary: | Triatomine bugs of the genera <i>Triatoma</i> and <i>Rhodnius</i> are vectors of Chagas disease, a neglected tropical disease of humans in South America caused by <i>Trypanosoma cruzi</i>. Triatoma virus (TrV), a natural pathogen of <i>Triatoma infestans</i>, has been proposed as a possible tool for the bio-control of triatomine bugs, but research into this virus has been hampered by a lack of suitable host cells for <i>in vitro</i> propagation. Here we report establishment and partial characterisation of continuous cell lines from embryos of <i>T. infestans</i> (TIE/LULS54) and <i>Rhodnius prolixus</i> (RPE/LULS53 and RPE/LULS57). RNAseq screening by a sequence-independent, single primer amplification approach confirmed the absence of TrV and other RNA viruses known to infect <i>R. prolixus</i>, indicating that these new cell lines could be used for propagation of TrV.
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