how do baculoviruses induce apoptosis?
The same baculovirus that is widely used for foreign gene expression, Autographa californica multicapsid nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV), was one of the first viruses shown to influence host cell apoptosis.1 AcMNPV replicates in larvae (caterpillars) of several species of the insect order Lepidoptera, which includes moths and butterflies. A spontaneous mutant of AcMNPV known as the annihilator mutant was found to induce apoptosis in the lepidopteran insect cell line SF-21. When the mutation in the annihilator mutant was mapped, it was found to contain a deletion in the p35 gene,1 implying that the p35 gene was able to prevent the apoptotic response normally induced by AcMNPV infection in this cell line. Despite significant progress in our understanding of how baculoviruses block apoptosis, our understanding of the mechanisms by which these viruses trigger the apoptotic response lags behind. Attachment to cell receptors is not sufficient to induce apoptosis, since blocking p35 mutant viru
