About Baculoviruses
Baculoviruses are double-stranded DNA viruses belonging to the Baculoviridae family. They are known to infect different species of insects and have been used as biopesticides and adopted for molecular genetic analysis. The Baculovirus Expression Vector System (BEVS) is a powerful, convenient and versatile eukaryotic system for heterologous gene expression.

The Baculovirus Expression Process
The expression system was initially used in insect cells and now finds wide applications in the production of recombinant proteins. The process involves the introduction of a foreign gene into a nonessential region of the circular viral genome via homologous recombination with a transfer vector containing the cloned gene. The production of foreign protein is then achieved by the infection of additional insect cell cultures with the resultant recombinant virus. The translated proteins obtained are glycosylated, acylated and proteolytically cleaved. Among the more than 500 baculoviruses, Autographa californica multiple NPV (AcMNPV) is the most well studied and extensively used.

What Baculovirus Expression Can Do for You
This cellular protein synthesis system has been widely used for the production of numerous recombinant proteins in insect cells as it is associated with high levels of protein expression; post-translational modifications; relevant cellular compartmentalization of proteins; capacity of large cDNA inserts; simultaneous expression of multiple genes and quick and reliable results. Recent studies have further demonstrated the use of baculoviruses in protein production in the mammalian cells.

In addition to being used as therapeutic genes, baculoviruses may also serve as a promising vector for the delivery of cDNA of infectious RNA viruses toward antisense therapy approaches and for the delivery of siRNA to silence specific target genes. They are also being investigated in the studies of genetic regulation, viral vector preparation, in-vivo and ex-vivo gene therapy, generation of viral vectors and generation of monoclonal antibodies.

Baculovirus services are our specialty; contact us to learn more about how Blue Sky's baculovirus services can enhance your drug discovery process.