Expression of ion channels in cultured cells using baculovirus.

The utility of baculovirus as a vehicle for protein expression for both soluble and integral membrane proteins has been proved repeatedly. Our results suggest that baculovirus also holds promise as a means for expressing ion channel proteins. Because Sf9 cells are especially well suited to electrophysiology and because the construction of recombinant viruses that carry cloned genes is easy, baculovirus may also prove valuable for detailed functional studies of ion channels.