The baculovirus Autographa californica multiple nuclear polyhedrosis virus (AcMNPV) is used as a vector in many gene therapy studies. Wild-type AcMNPV infects many mammalian cell types in vitro, but does not replicate. We investigated the dynamics of AcMNPV genomic DNA in infected mammalian cells and used flow cytometric analysis to demonstrate that recombinant baculovirus containing a cytomegalovirus immediate early promoter/enhancer with green fluorescent protein (GFP) expressed high levels of GFP in Huh-7 cells, but not B16, Raw264.7, or YAC-1 cells. The addition of butyrate, a deacetylase inhibitor, markedly enhanced the percentage of GFP-expressing Huh-7 and B 16 cells, but not Raw264.7 and YAC-1 cells. The addition of 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine, a DNA methylation inhibitor, had no enhancing effect. Polymerase chain reaction analysis using AcMNPV-gp64-specific primers indicated that AcMNPV infected not only Huh-7 and B 16 cells, but also Raw264.7 and YAC-1 cells in vitro. The genomic DNA was detected in Huh-7 and B 16 cells 96 h after infection. Genomic AcMNPV DNA in YAC-1 cells was not transported to the nucleus. Luciferase assay indicated that AcMNPV p35 gene mRNA and p35 promoter activity were clearly expressed only in Huh-7 and B 16 cells. These results suggest that viral genomic DNA expression is restricted by different host cell factors, such as degradation, deacetylation, and inhibition of nuclear transport, depending on the mammalian cell type. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.