Baculovirus‐mediated gene transfer is attenuated by sodium bicarbonate

Abstract

To our best knowledge, this is the first report unraveling the significance of NaHCO(3) in gene transfer. Our finding suggests that baculovirus-mediated gene transfer can be readily enhanced by omitting NaHCO(3) from the medium during the transduction period.

Culture medium induced vimentin reorganization associates with enhanced baculovirus-mediated gene delivery

“…It has been previously suggested that the HCO 3 − -ion in DMEM inhibits baculoviral transduction by inhibiting the viral endosomal escape or accelerating the routing of baculovirus-containing vesicles to lysosomes for degradation (Shen et al, 2007). However, no exact mechanistic explanations for the observed results have been reported.…”

“…Previous results suggest that Mg 2+ , Ca 2+ , K + and Na + do not influence the baculovirus transduction (Hsu et al, 2004;Shen et al, 2007).…”

“…These results suggest that DMEM contains inhibitory factors interfering with baculovirus transduction. Baculovirus-mediated gene transfer was demonstrated to be enhanced by omitting NaHCO 3 from the medium (Shen et al, 2007). These studies also showed that Mg 2+ , Ca 2+ , K + and Na + do not influence the baculovirus transduction and do not explain the medium effect (Hsu et al, 2004;Shen et al, 2007).…”

“…It has been suggested that the amount of NaHCO 3 in DMEM can inhibit baculovirus transduction (Shen et al, 2007). In order to study further the role of NaHCO 3 , we increased the amount of NaHCO 3 in RPMI 1640 medium up to the level found in DMEM (from 2.0 up to 3.7 g/l).…”

Baculoviral Vectors for Gene Delivery: A Review

“…One key determinant accounting for the improved transduction is the surrounding solution. PBS is free of NaHCO 3 , a common buffering agent in the medium, and is superior to NaHCO 3 -containing DMEM as the surrounding solution with respect to transduction efficiency and transgene expression [14,49] because NaHCO 3 inhibits baculovirus transduction by reducing the intracellular virus number [55]. Owing to the key role of NaHCO 3 , this transduction protocol may be modified by using NaHCO 3 -deficient DMEM in lieu of PBS as the surrounding solution.…”