RECOVERY OF HOMOGENEOUS AND FUNCTIONAL BETA(2)-ADRENERGIC RECEPTORS FROM EXTRACELLULAR BACULOVIRUS PARTICLES

Expression in baculovirus-infected insect cells allows sufficient prod uction of G-protein coupled receptor for structural studies. An import ant drawback of this expression system comes from the presence of unpr ocessed and biologically inactive receptors that have to be eliminated during receptor purification steps. We show that viral particles rele ased from Sf9 cells infected with a recombinant baculovirus coding for the human beta(2)-adrenergic receptor (beta(2)AR) cDNA contain glycos ylated and biologically active beta(2)AR. In addition, post-translatio nal modifications known to modulate receptor activity were found to oc cur in these particles.