Establishment and characterization of a fibroblast cell line from postmortem skin of an adult Chinese muntjac ( Muntiacus reevesi )

Isolation and culture of somatic cells from animals especially endangered species have raised great concerns as it is being an effective and convenient way to preserve genetic materials for future studies. As a species native to China, Chinese muntjac ( Muntiacus reevesi ) is listed as a beneficial species with economic and scientific research values. To our knowledge, however, there have been no published reports on somatic cell preservation of this species to date. To conserve biological resources for sustainability of Chinese muntjacs’ genetic diversity, we established a fibroblast cell line from the postmortem ear skin of an adult male Chinese muntjac. The cultured cells were adherent to the plastic and showed an elongated, thin, and spindle-like shape. Moreover, they were FSP1- and VIM-positive characterizing them to be fibroblastic. No microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, or mycoplasmas) were detected throughout the whole study. Cell viability was high although it declined somehow after passaging. The population doubling time was 21.28 h according to the growth curve. Chromosome analysis revealed that the established fibroblast cell line contained 23 pairs of chromosomes, one pair of which was sex chromosomes (XY). Mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase I gene of cultured cells shared 98.32% identity with those of Muntiacus reevesi registered in GenBank, which verified the cell line was derived from Muntiacus reevesi . In conclusion, we propagated and characterized fibroblast cells from a Chinese muntjac. We believe that this somatic cell line could facilitate animal cloning and breeding studies and become a useful in vitro model to address genetic questions.