FIG. 2.

Con1 NS4B enhances H77 replication. (A) Huh-7.5 cells were electroporated with 0.5 μg of replicon RNA. At the indicated times posttransfection, total cellular RNA was harvested, and HCV RNA in 1 μg of total RNA was quantified by real-time RT-PCR. (B) Ninety-six hours after RNA transfection, Huh-7.5 cell monolayers were lysed, and NS3 (top) and NS5A (bottom) expression was analyzed by immunoblotting. The migration of NS3 and NS5A is shown on the right. The differences in mobility between Con1- and H77-derived NS3 and between Con1- and H77-derived NS5A reflect differences in specific amino acid composition between these two strains. Due to slight differences in antibody reactivity, the relative expression levels of Con1 and H77 NS3 or NS5A cannot be directly compared. Similar results were obtained in four independent repetitions of the experiment.