Current large-scale recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) production systems based on the baculovirus expression vector (BEV) remain complicated and cost-intensive, and they lack versatility and flexibility. Here we present a novel recombinant baculovirus integrated with all packaging elements for the production of rAAV. To optimize BEV construction, ribosome leaky-scanning mechanism was used to express AAV Rep and Cap proteins downstream of the PH and P10 promoters in the pFast.Bac.Dual vector, respectively, and the rAAV genome was inserted between the two promoters. The yields of rAAV2, rAAV8, and rAAV9 derived from the BEV-infected Sf9 cells exceeded 105 vector genomes (VG) per cell. The BEV was shown to be stable and showed no apparent decrease of rAAV yield after at least four serial passages. The rAAVs derived from the new Bac system displayed high-quality and high-transduction activity. Additionally, rAAV2 could be efficiently generated from BEV-infected beet armyworm larvae at a per-larvae yield of 2.75 ± 1.66 × 1010 VG. The rAAV2 derived from larvae showed a structure similar to the rAAV2 derived from HEK293 cells, and it also displayed high-transduction activity. In summary, the novel BEV is ideally suitable for large-scale rAAV production. Further, this study exploits a potential cost-efficient platform for rAAV production in insect larvae.
Keywords: gene therapy; insect cells and larvae; rAAV production; recombinant baculovirus.