Engineering N-glycosylation pathways in the baculovirus-insect cell system.

The inability to produce eukaryotic glycoproteins with complex N-linked glycans is a major limitation of the baculovirus-insect cell expression system. Recent studies have demonstrated that metabolic engineering can be used to extend the glycoprotein processing capabilities of lepidopteran insect cells. This approach is being used to develop new baculovirus-insect cell expression systems that can produce more authentic recombinant glycoproteins and obtain new information on insect N-glycosylation pathways.