Invitrogen Bac to Bac Expression System

Culturing Insect Cells
General Guidelines
Introduction
We recommend using Spodoptera frugiperda Sf9 or Sf21 insect cells as the host for
your baculovirus transfer vector. Before you start your transfection and
expression experiments, be sure to have cultures of Sf9 or Sf21 cells growing
and have frozen master stocks available. Sf9 and Sf21 cells and cell culture
reagents are available separately from Invitrogen (see page viii for ordering
information).
Note: High Five and Mimic Sf9 insect cells are suitable for use for expression
only.
Using Serum-Free
Medium
Insect cells may be cultured under serum-free conditions. We recommend using
Sf-900 II SFM available from Invitrogen (see page viii for ordering information).
Sf-900 II SFM is a protein-free medium optimized for the growth and
maintenance of Sf9 and Sf21 cells, and for large-scale production of
recombinant proteins expressed using the Bac-to-Bac ® System. For more
information, see our Web site (www.invitrogen.com) or call Technical Service
(see page 62).
Insect Cell Culture
Reference Guide
For guidelines and detailed information on insect cell culture, refer to the Guide to
Baculovirus Expression Vector Systems (BEVS) and Insect Cell Culture Techniques.
This guide is available for downloading from our Web site at
www.invitrogen.com or from Technical Service (see page 62), and contains
information on:
• Maintaining and passaging insect cells in adherent and suspension culture
• Freezing cells
• Using serum-free medium (includes protocols to adapt cells to serum-free
medium)
• Scaling up cell culture
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