Baculovirus Packaging

Recombinant baculovirus is widely used for the expression of recombinant proteins in cultured insect cells and mammalian cells. It is one of the most versatile and powerful systems for eukaryotic expression of recombinant proteins, especially for those where maintenance of eukaryotic-specific post-translational modifications is critical.

VectorBuilder has developed a series of proprietary technologies and reagents that have greatly improved recombinant baculovirus production protocols in terms of titer, purity, viability and consistency. As a result, we have a growing base of highly satisfied customers who come back to us time after time for their baculovirus vector cloning and baculovirus packaging needs.

Types of baculovirus offered
  • Baculovirus strain AcMNPV (Autographa californica multicapsid nucleopolyhedrovirus)

Service Details

Price and turnaround Price Match
Scale Application Titer Volume Price (USD) Turnaround
Medium Cell culture >106 PFU/ml 1 ml (10x100 ul) $649 15-22 days
Large >107 PFU/ml $1,099 22-29 days

PFU = Plaque forming units

Deliverables
Your custom baculovirus

Free: control virus

  • Medium: >106 PFU/ml, 2x100 ul
  • Large: >106 PFU/ml, 2x100 ul
Control virus

The control baculovirus is designed to match the biological application of the custom virus and to be used for testing baculovirus transduction. For example, if the custom virus overexpresses a gene, then the control virus provided will be EGFP baculovirus (baculovirus overexpressing EGFP). Detailed information for the control virus is shown below:

Vector system Control virus vector name Control virus vector ID
Baculovirus recombinant protein expression system pBV-EGFP VB010000-9305vtu
Shipping and storage

Our baculovirus is stored in DPBS buffer and is shipped on dry ice. Upon receiving, it should be stored at -80°C for long term (stable for at least 6 months), or -20°C for use within one week. Please avoid repeated freeze-thaw cycles of baculovirus, as this can result in a large titer drop.

Technical Information

Baculovirus production and quality control (QC)

For our baculovirus manufacturing, the baculovirus transfer plasmid carrying the gene of interest (GOI) is co-transformed with a helper plasmid expressing the Tn7 transposase into the bacterial host harboring the empty baculovirus shuttle vector (a.k.a. bacmid) to generate recombinant bacmid. The recombinant bacmid is then transfected into insect Sf9 cells. After a short incubation period, viral particles are harvested from medium and further concentrated by sucrose cushion centrifugation. We use a qPCR-based approach to measure baculovirus titer.

Typical workflow of baculovirus packaging and quality control.

For each baculovirus produced by VectorBuilder, quality control includes titer measurement, sterility testing for bacteria and fungi, and mycoplasma detection. If the transfer vector encodes a fluorescent protein, we would transduce cells with virus and detect corresponding fluorescence.

Documents
Certificate of Analysis (COA)

How to Order

Order both vector cloning and virus packaging
Order virus packaging or your own vector

If customer-supplied baculovirus transfer plasmids or recombinant bacmids are used, please send them to us following the Materials Submission Guidelines. Please strictly follow our guidelines to set up shipment to avoid any delay or damage of materials. All customer-supplied materials undergo mandatory QC by VectorBuilder which may incur a $100 surcharge for each item. Please note that production may not be initiated until customer-supplied materials pass QC.

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