ABSTRACT
Insect cell culture is becoming recognized as an important enabling technology for the production of biologicals, including recombinant proteins and biopesticides, primarily through the use of baculovirus expression vectors. Strategies aimed at outright avoiding of direct sparging or, more generally, of any extended liquid-gas interface, such as attempts to aerate the insect cell culture through semipermeable silicon or teflon tubing are of limited practical use for scale-up. Cell density increases are also possible via immobilization or attachment to inert matrixes. The choice of cell lines will be influenced by the level and type of protein expression, including posttranslational modifications. In addition to the influence of the host cell line, the construction of the baculovirus vector, i.e., the exact location in the viral genome where the recombinant gene is inserted, is clearly of fundamental significance in achieving high levels of protein expression.
