Correction: BTI-Tnao38, a new cell line derived from Trichoplusia ni, is permissive for AcMNPV infection and produces high levels of recombinant proteins

After publication of this work [1], we discovered an error in the identification of the origin of the cell line reported in this study. In this study, we described the isolation and detailed characterization of a cell line that produces high levels of recombinant proteins. In addition, we were unable to detect the presence of the Trichoplusia ni cell line virus (TNCLV), an alphanodavirus that was previously reported in a T. ni derived cell line [2]. We reported that the Ao38 cell line was derived from a culture of primary cells of Ascalapha odorata. In the course of our subsequent characterization, we discovered that the source of the Ao38 cell line was not A. odorata as reported, but was instead T. ni. A careful analysis of archived intermediate stages in the production of the cell line indicated that the line resulted from primary A. odorata cultures that were contaminated with T. ni cells. While the source of the contamination is not known with certainty, further analysis suggests that Ao38 cells are likely a clonal derivative of the High Five (Tn-5B1-4) cell line. While we stand behind the analysis of the characteristics of this cell line, we are providing a correction to the above study, and we sincerely apologize for any problems or difficulties caused by our error in identification of the origin of this line. Below, we provide representative data establishing the identity of this line as a T. ni derived cell line. We also reexamined the cell line for the presence of TNCLV under conditions of defined sensitivity, and provide additional data confirming the absence of detection of the TNCLV alphanodavirus from this line.To identify the species of origin of the Ao38 cell line, we amplified sequences from three marker genes that have been used to distinguish between and within lepidopteran species: a) mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) [3-5], b) internal transcribed spacers (ITS) of the nuclear ribosomal 18S-5.8S-28S cistron [6-8], and c) a cadheri