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.
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]
