Selecting a Viral DNA Delivery System

There are many options in selecting a viral delivery system matched to your specific needs. We offer a variety of viral vector systems for delivering nucleic acids into mammalian and insect cells for protein expression and RNAi studies.

• Learn more about the different types of Viral Vectors

ViraPower Expression Systems use replication-incompetent viral particles to ensure safe and highly-efficient delivery of expression constructs for high-level constitutive or inducible expression in any mammalian cell type. A number of vectors available for use with the ViraPower systems offer various options for
cloning method (TOPO or Gateway cloning, or GeneArt genetic assembly) and promoter choice (constitutive or inducible), allowing the optimization of the experiment for each cell line or animal model.

• ViraPower Lentiviral Expression System allows stable protein expression in dividing and non-dividing cells (e.g., stem cells, primary neuronal cells), and are ideal for analysis of long-term gene expression and functional analysis studies.
• ViraPower HiPerform Lentiviral Expression System improves on the existing lentiviral systems by including the woodchuck posttranscriptional regulatory element (WPRE) and the central polypurine tract (cPPT) sequence from the HIV-1 integrase gene in the viral vectors for increased expression and increased lentiviral integration into the host genome, respectively. The ViraPower HiPerform kits have two versions: kits for high accuracy titer, allowing for precise control of copy number per cell, or kits for fast titering, which are ideal for high throughput screening studies.
• ViraPower Lentiviral T-REx System combines the ViraPower HiPerform Lentiviral, T-REx, and Gateway technologies to facilitate easy recombination-based cloning and lentiviral-based, regulated (tetracycline-inducible), high-level expression of a target gene in dividing and non-dividing mammalian cells. This system is ideal expressing toxic proteins, because the inducible promoter allows the control of the timing of gene expression.
  
• ViraPower Adenoviral Expression System is ideal for protein production, and allows high-level transient gene expression in dividing and non-dividing mammalian cells from the CMV or another promoter of choice. The ViraPower Adenoviral System uses Gateway Technology for fast, easy, and accurate cloning of the gene of interest.

Learn more about ViraPower expression systems

Expression in insect cells offers significant advantages, including high expression levels, ease of scale-up, and simplified cell growth that is readily adapted to high-density suspension culture. Furthermore, because many of the posttranslational modification pathways present in mammalian systems are also utilized in insect cells, proteins produced in insect cells are antigenically, immunogenically, and functionally similar to native mammalian proteins. We offer powerful and versatile baculovirus expression systems for high-level, recombinant protein expression in insect cells.

• BaculoDirect Baculovirus Expression System is a fast and easy method for generating recombinant baculovirus using recombinational Gateway cloning. Baculovirus expression systems typically require bacterial transformation and isolation of a large bacmid or co-transfection of a transfer vector and linear baculovirus DNA into insect cells. The BaculoDirect system eliminates these time-consuming steps, allowing the isolation of purified virus within one week. The reduction of hand-on time for baculovirus generation makes the BaculoDirect system ideal for high-throughput expression.
• Bac-to-Bac Baculovirus Expression System uses a unique bacmid shuttle vector that recombines by site-specific transposition to generate an expression bacmid in bacterial cells. The bacmid is then transfected into insect cells for the production of recombinant baculovirus particles. With easy blue/white screening of recombinant colonies, the Bac-to-Bac Baculovirus Expression System is designed for fast, small scale production of recombinant baculovirus.
  
• Bac-to-Bac HBM Baculovirus Expression System enables secreted protein expression via the honeybee melittin (HBM) secretion signal, which is ideal for proteins and glycoproteins that require a secretion signal to be glycosylated. In contrast to glycoproteins secreted from mammalian cells, glycoproteins secreted from baculovirus can be easily de-glycosylated in vitro, which is essential for crystallizing the proteins.
• Bac-N-Blue Baculovirus Expression System is the classic and trusted expression system for high-level recombinant protein production in insect cells. Recombinant viral DNA is generated by co-transfection of a transfer vector containing the gene of interest and the linear baculovirus DNA into insect cells. Recombinant baculovirus is isolated using a blue/white plaque visualization method, and then amplified in insect cells to generate a high-titer viral stock to initiate expression studies.

Lean more about baculoviral expression systems