FIG. 3.

Self-cleavage of NS3-4A junctions with P1 cysteine is independent of the intercalation of a functional NS4A peptide. (A) One microgram of RNA encoding C-20 or C-34* was used to program the in vitro translation reaction. Proteins were analyzed as described for Fig. 2A. The number above each lane refers to the reaction time (in minutes) for the sample. (B) Plasmids (from 20 ng to 1 μg) encoding C-20 and C-34* proteins were used to program IVTT in a 50-μl reaction mixture. After 30 and 60 min of incubation, reactions were stopped and proteins were analyzed by SDS-PAGE and autoradiography. There was no significant change in the ratio of unprocessed to processed protein, as measured by densitometry.