Bioreactor development for production of viral pesticides or heterologous proteins in insect cell cultures

The insect cell-baculovirus expression system has significant potential for producing proteins requiring some degree of posttranslational modification. T. ni cells appear to be as good a host as S. frugiperda cells for heterologous protein production as demonstrated by production of beta-galactosidase. Attachment-dependent cells of T. ni can be effectively cultured in a packed-bed reactor using glass beads. When cell in such a reactor were infected, they produced 35% of the total protein as beta-galactosidase. No cell detachment was observed even 70 h postinfection. A model of viral entry has been proposed and tested.