关键词: 杆状病毒, 昆虫, 宿主, 病毒-宿主相互作用, 侵染过程, 表达载体

Abstract: The interactions of baculovirus with insect host is a basic molecular and ecological process that has practical applications not only in agriculture but also in Eukaryotic expression systems, gene therapy, protein display systems and engineering vaccine. In addition, baculoviruses are promising viral insecticides and are friendly to the environment. A number of important and valuable discoveries have emerged from studies of these interactions. The baculovirus life cycle involves two distinct forms of virus, i.e., occlusion derived virus (ODV) and budded virus (BV). The former is present in polyhedrin and responsible for the primary infection of the host while the latter is released from the infected host cells and caused the secondary infection. Typically, the initial infection occurs when a susceptible host insect feeds on plants that are contaminated with the occluded form of the virus. The polyhedrin dissolves in the alkaline environment of the host midgut, releasing ODV that then fuse to the columnar epithelial cell membrane of the host intestine and are taken into the cell in endosomes. Nucleocapsids escape from the endosomes and are transported to nucleus. Viral transcription and replication occur in the cell nucleus and new BV particles are budded out from the basolateral side to spread the infection systemically. The interactions of baculovirus with host cells include the physical interactions occurring during viral binding and entry, the complex regulation of host gene expression and modification and regulation of cellular organismal defenses. Here, we review the recent investigations on how baculoviruses interact with insect hosts during the infection process, especially the roles of genes of baculoviruses during viral infection.

Key words: Baculovirus, insect, host, virus-host interaction, infection process, expression vector