ISSN:
0006-3592
Keywords:
insect cells
;
baculovirus expression vector system
;
multiplicity of infection
;
time of infection
;
substrate limitation
;
Chemistry
;
Biochemistry and Biotechnology
Source:
Wiley InterScience Backfile Collection 1832-2000
Topics:
Biology
,
Process Engineering, Biotechnology, Nutrition Technology
Notes:
The inability to infect insect cell cultures at the highest achievable cell densities has imposed major limitations to both the fundamental understanding of the Baculovirus Expression Vector System (BEVS) as well as full exploitation of its potential productive capacity for recombinant (β-galAcNPV) products. The current literature does not characterize and identify the exact nature of the observed limitations, which therefore has become the major objective and contribution of the following study. Critical densities for infection of Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9) cells with nuclear polyhedrosis virus expressing β-galactosidase (Autographa californica) grown in media both containing fetal calf serum (FCS) and free of serum were found to be at 2 × 106 and 5 × 106 cells/ml respectively. Medium exchange was found to completely reverse the effect if renewed up to 24 hours post-infection (HPI). The inevitable arrest of uninfected cell growth and decreased production of recombinant products at high cell densities of infection were both correlated to nutrient depletion. Cystine was found to be depleted in uninfected insect cell cultures at the onset of the stationary phase and in serum-free insect cell cultures infected with baculovirus above a cell density of 5 × 106 cells/ml. Neither glucose depletion nor accumulation of possible inhibitory metabolites such as alanine, ammonia, or lactate could be correlated to growth arrest or decreased recombinant product yields. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 56: 32-44, 1997.
Additional Material:
15 Ill.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
