Transduction of Vertebrate Cells with Recombinant Baculovirus

INTRODUCTION The baculoviral expression vector system (BEVS) has become one of the most popular systems to produce recombinant proteins. The finding that a modified baculovirus bearing a suitable promoter was able to efficiently transduce hepatocytes stimulated further interest in BEVS as a potential gene delivery vector for cells other than those of insect origin. Indeed, a wide variety of vertebrate cells can be transduced by recombinant baculoviruses. Such viruses can also mediate efficient gene delivery into several tissues of mammals in vivo. The popularity of BEVS over other expression systems is based on several unique features such as safety, ability to accommodate large transgenes, and low cytotoxicity in vertebrate cells even at very high virus load. This protocol describes a method for transformation of vertebrate cells with recombinant baculovirus.