A co-expression vector for baculovirus-mediated protein expression in mammalian cells.

BacMam system utilizes baculovirus to deliver exogenous genes into mammalian cells and is extensively used for recombinant production of eukaryotic proteins. Here, we described the development of a BacMam vector (pBMCL1), which allows convenient tracing of virus production, provides higher infection efficiency towards mammalian cells, minimizes unwanted transcription of toxic genes in insect cells, and provides the capability for co-expression of multiple proteins via a single virus. We demonstrate the successful application of the pBMCL1 vector for the expression of homo-tetrameric human TRPC3 channel and hetero-octameric K ATP channel. • pBMCL1 vector allows the tracing of BacMam virus generation via green reporter. • pBMCL1 vector minimizes the leaky expression of toxic genes in insect cells. • pBMCL1 vector is capable of co-expressing multiple proteins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]