Background: To express capsid proteins of HPV16 in insect cells system.
Methods: Recombinant baculovirus stocks were generated by cotransfection with baculovirus DNA and baculovirus recombinant transfer plasmids. The expression of aimed proteins in insect cells were confirmed by using SDS-PAGE and Western blot.
Results: Two stable strains of recombinant baculovirus expressing HPV16L1 protein alone and co-expressing HPV16L1 plus L2 proteins were obtained. The L1 and L2 ORFs of HPV16 produced proteins of 57000 and 97000, respectively. The yield of L1 protein was about 25%-30% of the total proteins of the insect cell.
Conclusions: L1 and L2 proteins of HPV16 could be expressed with high efficiency in insect cells via recombinant baculoviruses.