Schneider 2 cells

Schneider 2 cells, usually abbreviated as S2 cells, are one of the most commonly used Drosophila melanogaster cell lines. S2 cells were derived from a primary culture of late stage (20–24 hours old) Drosophila melanogaster embryos by Dr. Imogene Schneider,^[1] likely from a macrophage-like lineage.

Schneider 2 cells

S2 cells can be grown at room temperature both as a semi-adherent monolayer or in suspension, and they can be grown in the absence of serum.^[2]

Several media have been developed for culturing insect cell lines with many of them suitable for culturing S2 cells. The S2 cells have been shown to grow up to 5.1×10⁷ cells/ml in serum free medium^[3] and above 10⁷ cells/ml in basal media such as that used in Schneider's experiments.^[4] ExpreS2ion Biotechnologies have shown a cell concentration of up 7.0x10⁷ cell/ml.^[5]

S2 cells are often used for expression of heterologous proteins and can be used for large-scale production of proteins. Additionally, the cells can be easily transiently transfected with several plasmids at once to study protein interactions.^[6][7]