Production of Antibody Fragments Using the BaculovirusInsect Cell System

The baculovirus–insect cell system is effective in the production of large quantities of biologically active recombinant proteins. The secretory production of an antibody Fab fragment in lepidopteran insect cells infected with a recombinant baculovirus that contains both the heavy-chain (Hc; Fd fragment) and light-chain (Lc) genes of the Fab fragment is described in this chapter. The recombinant baculovirus can be generated rapidly and efficiently through site-specific transposon-mediated insertion of foreign genes into a baculovirus genome called a bacmid in Escherichia coli . Factors influencing the Fab fragment production are discussed.