Using the Baculovirus/Insect Cell System to Study Apoptosis

Apoptosis is a physiological program of cell suicide conserved in invertebrates and vertebrates. Apoptosis is crucial to the normal development of organisms and in tissue homeostasis, by promoting elimination of unwanted cells including damaged- or virusinfected cells. Because of the importance of programmed cell death for the survival of the organism a tight regulation is exerted at various activation levels of the cell-death machinery. The utilization of the baculovirus Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus to identify genes that inhibit the apoptotic process will be described using a transfection-based approach, illustrated by identification of the p49 gene.