"Baculovirus: A Powerful Tool for Various Biotechnological Applications"
Advances in Biochemistry and Biotechnology, 7 (1):
1-6 (April 2019)Abstract
Since its introduction in the early 1980s, the protein production system based on the Baculovirus/Insect cell pair has continuously evolved and has been used in a growing number of applications. A better knowledge of the baculovirus infectious cycle and the strong expression of two of its non-essential proteins led to the brilliant idea of using its great capacity to propagate in insect cells to produce large quantities of recombinant proteins. Many other features of this interesting system, particularly its ability to be scaled for industrial applications, have allowed it to distinguish itself from other historical methods such as those using bacteria or yeasts. Here, through a short historical point of view and a general description of its process, we describe the applications that have been progressively performed by this system, from the production of a single recombinant protein to that of vaccine manufacturing or even viral vectors for gene therapy approaches. The baculoviral system thus continues to evolve by opening up new technological, scientific and industrial perspectives that undoubtedly make it a key player for many forthcoming innovative biotechnology applications.