How to Choose the Virus—Adenovirus or Lentivirus

Virus transduction efficiency is much higher than the vector expression efficiency of conventional eukaryotic, therefore it is particularly suitable for the expression of mediated exogenous gene in difficult transfected mammalian cells. Viruses commonly used today include lentivirus, adenovirus, retrovirus and adeno-associated virus.

Because the purpose of experiment is different, we need to select appropriate virus to study. The specific choice of the virus can be decided according to their characteristics:

Lentivirus

Advantages:

It can be inserted into the genome of the cell, stably expressed and sustained for a long time;Packing cycle is short (usually two months).

Disadvantages:

The infection efficiency is much lower than that of adenovirus;It can not be amplified. Once the virus has been packaged, it can be re-packaged only if it is needed again, and the cost is high;The viral titer obtained by primary packaging is relatively low, which is not suitable for direct use in animal experiments.

Adenovirus

Advantages:

The infection rate is high, and that of many cells can reach nearly 99%;The purified adenovirus can be directly injected into animals;It can be amplified in vitro. After each use, it can use the packaging cells to amplify to save costs;The titer obtained by primary packaging is higher;

Disadvantages:

It can not be integrated into the genome, and can not express stably;The expression time is short (2-3 weeks of this period) relative to lentiviral short. Adenovirus packaging is longer than lentivirus packaging (usually 2 months), because adenovirus packaging process is relatively cumbersome.

But in general, for many experiments, the advantages to choose adenovirus are much greater, and in many cases, adenovirus can be used as an alternative to lentivirus:

The following experiment cycle is not too long (within one month);The infection of target cell is difficult, and in the subsequent experiments, it does not need to establish stable cell lines;Animal experiments should be carried out.

Except for the selection of virus, even one same virus often have a variety of virus expression vectors: some are with fluorescence, some are without fluorescence, some are with GFP or RFP, some are with luciferase (luciferase adenovirus), etc. Virus selection can should be according to specific experiments.

Creative Biogene is a provider of various luciferase adenovirus products. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.