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COS are
Cellosaurus entry for COS-1Cellosaurus entry for COS-3Cellosaurus entry for COS-7
Monkey cell lines
COS are fibroblast
A fibroblast is a type of biological cell that synthesizes the extracellular matrix and collagen, produces the structural framework ( stroma) for animal tissues, and plays a critical role in wound healing. Fibroblasts are the most common cells of ...
-like cell lines
An immortalised cell line is a population of cells from a multicellular organism which would normally not proliferate indefinitely but, due to mutation, have evaded normal cellular senescence and instead can keep undergoing division. The cell ...
derived from monkey kidney tissue. COS cells are obtained by immortalizing CV-1 cells with a version of the SV40
SV40 is an abbreviation for simian vacuolating virus 40 or simian virus 40, a polyomavirus that is found in both monkeys and humans. Like other polyomaviruses, SV40 is a DNA virus that has the potential to cause tumors in animals, but most often ...
virus that can produce large T antigen
The large tumor antigen (also called the large T-antigen and abbreviated LTag or LT) is a protein encoded in the genomes of polyomaviruses, which are small double-stranded DNA viruses. LTag is expressed early in the infectious cycle and is essent ...
but has a defect in genomic replication. The CV-1 cell line in turn was derived from the kidney of the African green monkey
''Chlorocebus'' is a genus of medium-sized primates from the family of Old World monkeys. Six species are currently recognized, although some people classify them all as a single species with numerous subspecies. Either way, they make up the ...
.
The acronym "COS" is derived from the cells being CV-1 (simian) in Origin, and carrying the SV40 genetic material. Three COS lines were created (COS-1, COS-3 and COS-7), of which two are commonly used (COS-1 and COS-7).
Applications
The COS cell lines are often used by biologists when studying the monkey virusSV40
SV40 is an abbreviation for simian vacuolating virus 40 or simian virus 40, a polyomavirus that is found in both monkeys and humans. Like other polyomaviruses, SV40 is a DNA virus that has the potential to cause tumors in animals, but most often ...
. Cells from these lines are also often transfected to produce recombinant proteins for molecular biology, biochemistry, and cell biology experiments.
When an expression construct with an SV40 origin of replication is introduced into COS cells, the vector can be replicated substantially by the large T antigen
The large tumor antigen (also called the large T-antigen and abbreviated LTag or LT) is a protein encoded in the genomes of polyomaviruses, which are small double-stranded DNA viruses. LTag is expressed early in the infectious cycle and is essent ...
. These COS cells are genetically modified to produce the T antigen from their own genome.
References
{{ReflistExternal links
Cellosaurus entry for COS-1
Monkey cell lines