Recombinant Expression in Insect Cells

Outside of E. Coli and mammalian cells, insect cells, or baculovirus expression systems, are very common choices for recombinant protein production. This type of expression system possesses its own unique advantages, making the system suitable for a subset of target proteins.

​

Similar to yeast cells, insect cells are capable of producing proteins with eukaryotic translational machinery. The advantages of using insect cells also include their ability to produce large proteins and intracellular proteins. Compared to other systems, insect cell expression involves a much longer process, due to the requirement for an extra step of virus preparation. The whole process can take up to 16-20 weeks to complete and the steps involved are detailed below.

1) Gene Synthesis, Codon Optimization, and DNA prep

2) Transformation into E. coli to produce bacmid 

3) Preparation of the recombinant bacmid

4) Infection of insect cells and titration of the virus

5) Expression, evaluation, and optimization

6) Scale-up Production

7) Final QC and Delivery of Product