Fig. 1.
Genetic approaches to overcome HCV species barriers. (a) Identification and expression of human specific factors and/or ablation of murine inhibitory pathways. (b) adenoviral expression of human CD81 (green) and OCLN (red) allows to visualize HCV entry using a sensitive Cre-activatable reporter. (c) Transgenic mice support HCV entry and when crossed to a mouse background blunted in innate anti-viral responses support the entire HCV life cycle. (d) Adaptation of HCV to infection of non-human cells in vitro. (e) Identification and characterization adaptive mutations within (patient-derived) viral populations capable of replicating mice increasingly or fully immunocompetent mouse strains.