(93am) The Effect of Baculovirus Infection on the Intracellular pH of Insect Cells

Baculovirus utilization has a promising future in the bioinsecticide industry as an environmentally-safe alternative to chemical insecticides. Baculovirus can also be used to produce recombinant proteins, making it useful in many research applications. One problem faced in baculovirus use is host cell death due to oxidative stress. It had been postulated that there is a link between oxidative stress and intracellular acidification of the infected host cell. Therefore, studies were performed to determine the effect of baculovirus infection on intracellular pH in order to determine if intracellular acidification occurs prior to or following death in these cells. Specifically, insect host cell line, i.e., Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf-9) and Trichoplusia ni (BTI-5B1-4), viability prior to infection is over 95% and then decreases to less than 45% by 96 h post infection (pi). Utilizing a fluorescent method to determine intracellular pH, results have displayed that there is a slight intracellular acidification caused by baculovirus infection only following the cell death. Results have shown that when the uninfected Sf-9 and Tn-5 cell is grown in media with a pH of approximately 6.4, the intracellular pH remains at approximately 7. Current results will be presented. Understanding intracellular pH may lead to prolonged host cell life, increasing overall baculovirus system effectiveness.