Fig. 4. Mutations that alter HCV particle density affect viral infection initiation kinetics.

Huh7 cells were plated in 96-well plates, infected with ~ 100 FFU of HCVcc^wt (grey diamonds) or HCVcc^G451R (open squares) and at indicated time points p.i., inoculum was removed from triplicate wells, cells were washed twice with 1X PBS and overlaid with 10% cDMEM containing 0.25% methylcellulose. Forty-eight hours p.i., HCV foci were visualized by HRP-based immunocytochemistry staining using an anti-NS5A antibody and are expressed as mean number (no.) of foci detected/well ± stdev for triplicate samples. Linear trend lines are depicted to help illustrate the underlying difference between the two viruses.