What is a cell strain?

What is a cell strain?

• A. A single cell line
• B. An established subpopulation of a cell line
• C. A contaminated culture
• D. A clone of bacteria

Answer: (B)

A cell strain is an established subpopulation of a cell line. In cell culture, a line is the overall population descended from a common ancestor that you can keep passaging. A strain is a distinct group within that line that has developed stable, identifiable traits—such as growth rate, morphology, or gene expression—that persist across many passages. This makes the strain a reproducible unit for experiments within the same line. It’s not describing the entire line, nor a contamination, and it isn’t a bacterial clone, which belongs to a different context.

A cell strain is an established subpopulation of a cell line. In cell culture, a line is the overall population descended from a common ancestor that you can keep passaging. A strain is a distinct group within that line that has developed stable, identifiable traits—such as growth rate, morphology, or gene expression—that persist across many passages. This makes the strain a reproducible unit for experiments within the same line. It’s not describing the entire line, nor a contamination, and it isn’t a bacterial clone, which belongs to a different context.