Purification of Recombinant Protein Derived fkom the Baculovirus Expression System Using Glutathione Affinity Agarose

The baculovirus expression system represents an elegant means whereby high-level expression of foreign genes can be achieved using eukaryotic insect cells (1,2) . Viruses from the Baculoviridae subfamily of insect viruses, usually Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus (AcNPV), are most frequently used because they contain very active late gene promoters for proteins that are expressed late in the virus life cycle and are not essential for virus replication. Replacing a late gene, most commonly polyhedrin or p 10, with a foreign gene of interest results in recombinant virions capable of expressing abundant quantities of the foreign gene of interest by virtue of the highly active late gene promoter.