Serum-free culture of the suspension cell line QB-Tn9-4s of the cabbage looper, trichoplusia ni, is highly productive for virus replication and recombinant protein expression

Abstract

Serum-free cultures of insect cells play an important role in the fields of protein engineering, medicine, and biology. In this paper, the suspension cell line QB-Tn9-4s of Trichoplusia ni (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) was successfully adapted to serum-free Sf-900 III medium and passaged for 52 generations. The adapted QB-Tn9-4s cells grew faster. Their population doubling time shortened from 27.4 hr in serum-containing medium to 24.1 hr, and their maximal density increased by 1.83-fold, reaching 3.50 and times; 106 cells/mL in serum-free culture in T-flasks. The cells readily adapted to spinner culture, with maximum cell density of 4.40 and times; 106 cells/mL in a spinner flask. Although the infection rate of Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus and production of occlusion bodies (OBs) of the adapted QB-Tn9-4s cells were 91.0% and 85.4 OBs/cell, respectively, similar to those of QB-Tn9-4s cells cultured in serum-containing medium and control BTI-Tn5B1-4 cells, their budded virus titer was 4.97 × 107 TCID50/mL, significantly higher than those of the latter two. In addition, the expression levels of -galactosidase at six days post-infection and secreted alkaline phosphatase at seven days postinfection in the adapted QB-Tn9-4s cells reached 2.98 and plusmn; 0.15×104 IU/mL and 3.34 ± 0.13 IU/mL, respectively, significantly higher than those of QB-Tn9-4s and control BTI-Tn5B1-4 cultured in serum-containing media. The above findings establish a foundation for industrial production of virus and recombinant proteins in QB-Tn9-4s serum-free culture. © This is an open access paper.