Establishment of a novel ovine kidney cell line for isolation and propagation of viruses infecting domestic cloven-hoofed animal species

A sheep kidney-derived cell line, FLK-N3, was successfully established after serial (>100) passages. Persistent infection of this cell line with viruses and mycoplasma was not detected. The cells grew well and showed susceptibility to a wide variety of viruses derived from ovine, bovine, and porcine species, including orf virus, maedi visna virus, bovine herpesvirus 1, bovine parainfluenza virus 3, bovine viral diarrhea viruses 1 and 2, bovine coronavirus, bovine respiratory syncytial virus, bovine enterovirus, suid herpesvirus 1, and porcine enterovirus. These results suggest that the FLK-N3 cell line could be useful for isolation and propagation of viruses that affect cloven-hoofed animals.