The Baculovirus Expression System: A Laboratory Guide

1 The baculoviruses.- 1.1 Introduction.- 1.2 Isolation and host range.- 1.3 Structure and classification.- 1.4 Baculovirus replication in vivo.- 1.5 Baculovirus replication in vitro.- 1.5.1 Baculovirus gene expression and replication.- 1.5.2 Baculovirus gene promoters.- 1.6 Genetic engineering of baculovirus insecticides.- 2 The development of baculovirus expression vectors.- 2.1 Introduction and historical perspective.- 2.2 The merits of the baculovirus expression system.- 2.2.1 Advantages.- 2.2.2 Disadvantages.- 2.3 General principles for inserting foreign genes into the baculovirus genome.- 2.4 Baculovirus transfer vectors.- 2.4.1 Polyhedrin promoter-based expression vectors.- 2.4.2 p10 promoter-based transfer vectors.- 2.4.3 Multiple expression vectors.- 2.4.4 Transfer vectors utilizing other baculovirus gene promoters.- 2.5 Selection of recombinant viruses.- 2.5.1 Selection of a polyhedrin-negative phenotype.- 2.5.2 Selection of f3-galactosidase-negative viruses.- 2.5.3 Recombinant virus selection using dot-blot hybridization.- 2.5.4 Screening for a positive phenotype.- 2.5.5 Enhancing the numbers of recombinant viruses.- 3 Processing of foreign proteins synthesized using baculovirus vectors in insect cells.- 3.1 Introduction.- 3.2 Glycosylation.- 3.3 Phosphorylation, acylation and amidation.- 3.4 Proteolytic processing.- 3.5 Cellular targeting and secretion.- 3.6 Tertiary and quaternary structure formation.- 3.7 Expression of viral genes.- 3.8 Expression of bacterial and fungal genes.- 3.9 Post-transcriptional processing.- 4 Construction of transfer vectors containing the foreign gene.- 4.1 Introduction.- 4.2 Isolation of foreign gene coding sequences.- 4.2.1 Some general guidelines.- 4.2.2 Isolation of DNA fragments from agarose gels.- 4.3 Modifying the ends of DNA molecules.- 4.3.1 Mung bean nuclease.- 4.3.2 Klenow fill-in.- 4.4 Preparation of the transfer vector.- 4.5 DNA ligations.- 4.6 Transformation of bacteria.- 4.7 Screening for recombinant baculovirus transfer vectors.- 4.7.1 Colony hybridization.- 4.7.2 Rapid isolation of bacterial plasmid DNA (mini-preps).- 4.8 Analysis of recombinant transfer vectors.- 4.9 Isolation of highly purified plasmid DNA (maxi-preps).- 5 Insect cell culture media and maintenance of insect cell lines.- 5.1 Introduction.- 5.2 Cell lines.- 5.3 Culture media.- 5.4 Preparation of culture media.- 5.4.1 Preparation of TC100/FCS growth medium.- 5.4.2 Preparation of Grace's (TNM-FH) growth medium.- 5.4.3 Preparation of 4.5 1 TC100 medium from powdered formula.- 5.4.4. Preparation of TC100 medium from individual ingredients.- 5.4.5 Specialized TC100 media.- 5.4.6 Alternative insect cell culture media.- 5.5 Glassware and disposable plasticware.- 5.5.1 Suggested cleaning regime for tissue culture glassware.- 5.6 Insect cell culture.- 5.6.1 Routine sub-culturing of Sf cell lines (monolayer cultures).- 5.6.2 Routine sub-culturing of Sf cells maintained in spinner cultures.- 5.7 A guide to Sf cell seeding densities for experimental work.- 5.8 Freezing, storage and recovery of insect cells in liquid nitrogen.- 5.8.1 Freezing and storage of cells in liquid nitrogen.- 5.8.2 Recovery of cells from liquid nitrogen.- 5.9 A guide to adapting cells to serum-free media.- 6 Propagation, titration and purification of AcMNPV in cell culture.- 6.1 Introduction.- 6.1.1 Safety considerations: general rules for working with baculoviruses.- 6.2 Infection of cells with virus for experimental work.- 6.2.1 Infection of Sf cells in monolayer culture.- 6.2.2 Infection of Sf cells in suspension culture.- 6.3 Titration of virus by plaque-assay.- 6.3.1 Standard plaque-assay.- 6.3.2 Plaque-assay of lacZ-positive viruses.- 6.4 Plaque-picking and plaque-purification.- 6.5 Amplification of virus stocks.- 6.5.1 To prepare a seed stock of virus from a plaque-pick.- 6.5.2 Preparation of an intermediate stock of virus.- 6.5.3 Preparation of a high-titre working stock of virus.- 6.6 Large-scale production of virus for the purifi...