Introduction Of Cationic Virosome Derived From Vesicular Stomatitis Virus As A Novel Gene Delivery System For Sf9 Cells

Insect-derived cell lines are used extensively to produce recombinant proteins because they are capable of performing a range of post-translational modifications. Due to their significance in biotechnological applications, various methods have been developed to transfect them. In this study, we introduce a virosome constructed from vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) as a new delivery system for sf9 cells. We labeled these VSV virosomes by fluorescent probe Rhodamine B chloride (R18). By fluorescence microscope observation and conducting a fusion assay, we confirmed the uptake of VSV virosomes via endocytosis by sf9 cells and their fusion with the endosomal membrane. Moreover, we incubated cationic VSV virosomes with a GFP-expressing bacmid and transfected sf9 cells, after 24h some cells expressed GFP indicating the ability of VSV virosomes to deliver heterologous DNA to these cells. This is the first report of a virosomebased delivery system introduced for an insect cell line.