Glycosylation and Secretion of Human Tissue Plasminogen Activator in Recombinant Baculovirus-Infected Insect Cells

Cell lines established from the lepidopteran insect Spodoptera frugiperda (fall armyworm; Sf9) are used routinely as hosts for the expression of foreign proteins by recombinant baculovirus vectors. We have examined the pathway of protein glycosylation and secretion in these cells, using human tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) as a model. t-PA expressed in Sf9 cells was both N glycosylated and secreted. At least a subset of the N-linked oligosaccharides in extracellular t-PA was resistant to endo-beta-N-acetyl-D-glucosaminidase H, which removes immature, high-mannose-type oligosaccharides. This refutes the general conclusion from previous studies that Sf9 cells cannot process immature N-linked oligosaccharides to an endo-beta-N-acetyl-D-glucosaminidase H-resistant form. A nonglycosylated t-PA precursor was not detected in Sf9 cells, even with very short pulse-labeling times. This suggests that the mammalian signal sequence of t-PA is efficiently recognized in Sf9 cells and that it can mediate rapid translocation across the membrane of the rough endoplasmic reticulum, where cotranslational N glycosylation takes place. However, t-PA was secreted rather slowly, with a half-time of about 1.6 h. Thus, a rate-limiting step(s) in secretion occurs subsequent to translocation and N glycosylation of the t-PA polypeptide. Treatment of Sf9 cells with tunicamycin, but not with inhibitors of oligosaccharide processing, prevented the appearance of t-PA in the extracellular medium. This suggests that N glycosylation per se, but not processing of the N-linked oligosaccharides, is required directly or indirectly in baculovirus-infected Sf9 cells for the secretion of t-PA. Finally, the relative efficiency of secretion decreased dramatically with time of infection, suggesting that the Sf9 host cell secretory pathway is compromised during the later stages of baculovirus infection.