Figure 7. Alanine substitution of the conserved acidic residues on the hydrophilic side of NS4B AH1 affects virus production.

(A) Extra- and intracellular infectivity after electroporation of a replication-deficient (ΔGDD), wild-type (wt), E8A/E15A mutant and envelope glycoprotein-deficient (ΔE1E2) full-length Jc1 genomes was determined by 50% tissue culture infective dose (TCID₅₀) measurement at 48 h post-electroporation. (B) Intra- and extracellular HCV RNA levels were determined by RT-PCR 48 h post-electroporation and normalized to GAPDH mRNA level. Results measured for the wt were set to 100%. Note the use of a linear scale as opposed to the logarithmic scale used in panel A.