FIG. 7.

Cell culture-adaptive mutations in the P2-coding region are important determinants for HAV RNA replication. (A) Schematic representation of replicon constructs containing P2 or P2P3 sequences from wild-type HAV (shaded segments) or the cell culture-adapted, cytopathic HM175/18f virus. The arrow indicates the site of a cell culture-adaptive Ala-to-Val substitution in the 2B protein encoded by a mutation at nt 3889 of the genome. (B) Luciferase activity expressed by the replicon RNAs shown in panel A, following transfection of the respective RNAs into Huh-7 cells. Δ3D, HAV-LucΔ3D (Fig. 1).