Engineering lepidopteran insect cells for sialoglycoprotein production by genetic transformation with mammalian beta 1,4-galactosyltransferase and alpha 2,6-sialyltransferase genes

Recombinant mammalian glycoproteins produced by the baculovirus-insect cell expression system usually do not have structurally authentic glycans, One reason for this limitation is the virtual absence in insect cells of certai n glycosyltransferases, which are required for the biosynthesis of complex, terminally sialylated glycoproteins by mammalian cells; In this study, we genetically transformed insect cells with mammalian beta1,4-galactosyltrans ferase and alpha2,6-sialyltransferase genes. This produced a new insect cel l line that can express both genes, serve as hosts for baculovirus infectio n, and produce foreign glycoproteins with terminally sialylated N-glycans.