RESEARCH ARTICLE

Transcriptome analyses of insect cells to facilitate baculovirus-insect expression

  • Kai Yu 1,2 ,
  • Yang Yu 1,2 ,
  • Xiaoyan Tang 1,2 ,
  • Huimin Chen 1,2 ,
  • Junyu Xiao , 2,3 ,
  • Xiao-Dong Su , 1,2
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  • 1. Biodynamic Optical Imaging Center, School of Life Science, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
  • 2. State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
  • 3. Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

Received date: 31 Jan 2016

Accepted date: 27 Feb 2016

Published date: 27 May 2016

Copyright

2016 The Author(s) 2016. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com and journal.hep.com.cn

Abstract

The High Five cell line (BTI-TN-5B1-4) isolated from the cabbage looper, Trichoplusia ni is an insect cell line widely used for baculovirus-mediated recombinant protein expression. Despite its widespread application in industry and academic laboratories, the genomic background of this cell line remains unclear. Here we sequenced the transcriptome of High Five cells and assembled 25,234 transcripts. Codon usage analysis showed that High Five cells have a robust codon usage capacity and therefore suit for expressing proteins of both eukaryotic- and prokaryotic-origin. Genes involved in glycosylation were profiled in our study, providing guidance for engineering glycosylated proteins in the insect cells. We also predicted signal peptides for transcripts with high expression abundance in both High Five and Sf21 cell lines, and these results have important implications for optimizing the expression level of some secretory and membrane proteins.

Cite this article

Kai Yu , Yang Yu , Xiaoyan Tang , Huimin Chen , Junyu Xiao , Xiao-Dong Su . Transcriptome analyses of insect cells to facilitate baculovirus-insect expression[J]. Protein & Cell, 2016 , 7(5) : 373 -382 . DOI: 10.1007/s13238-016-0260-y

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