[10] Baculovirus expression of receptors and channels

Baculovirus expression systems have provided investigators with a powerful tool for the overexpression of eukaryotic proteins. It is an especially useful experimental approach in studies examining receptors and channels. These proteins are generally extensively modified, and standard bacterial expression systems typically fail to produce functional products. Extensive biochemical and biophysical characterization of receptors and channels has historically been hampered by their low natural abundance. Optimization of a baculovirus-mediated expression system provides a general system to produce sufficient functional quantities of a given protein for subsequent study.