Fig 4.

Localization and size of deletions in the 3′NCR of escape mutants detected in the brains of moribund mice infected i.c. with miRNA-targeted viruses. (A) Schematic representation of miRNA target insertion sites 1 to 5 in the 3′NCR as specified in the legend to Fig. 3. (B) The position and number of mir-9 and/or mir-124a target sites in the 3′NCR of the virus genome are shown by the black or white boxes, respectively. The size of the deletions (number of nucleotides deleted [Δnts]), their localization in the 3′NCR (arrows), and the day of virus isolation from the moribund mouse are indicated for each escape mutant derived from a mouse brain. The exact sequence boundaries for each deletion are shown in Fig. S3 in the supplemental material. Each Δ58 or Δ53 nucleotide deletion was found in virus progenies derived from the brains of two mice (indicated by an asterisk).