Fig. 2.

Epsilon sequences contain the donor site, and an element important for shunting is between ε and the C1 AUG. LMH cells were transfected with mutant DHBV genomic expression constructs, and pgRNA and P levels were detected by Northern and Western blotting (WB) of lysates on day 1 posttransfection. P translation efficiency was defined as the amount of P divided by the amount of pgRNA in the same lysate. (A) Positions of relevant elements within the 5′ end of the pgRNA. Octagons represent the positions at which the BamHI-SL was inserted to block scanning ribosomes. (B) Representative Western blots for P. (C) Representative Western blots for C. (D) Representative Northern blots for the pgRNA. (E) P translation efficiency for the mutants with lesions in the 5′ end of the pgRNA. Data are normalized to the activity of the wild-type (WT) construct and shown as the mean ± standard deviation from three to five replicate experiments. IP, immunoprecipitation.