Current methods for manipulating baculoviruses

Recombinant baculoviruses have become popular expression vectors for heterologous proteins. Recently, several novel strategies for manipulating the baculovirus genome have been developed. These include linearizing the viral genome at the point of insertion of the foreign gene to be expressed, reconstituting a replicating baculovirus genome in S. cerevisiae and E. coli, and in vitro enzymatically mediated recombination into the genome. Each of these techniques constitutes a distinct approach to the problem of manipulating this complex DNA molecule, and each has distinct advantages for the various purposes to which the recombinant viruses may be applied.