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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Nov 11.
Published in final edited form as: ACS Infect Dis. 2016 Aug 25;2(11):852–862. doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.6b00086

Figure 1. The membranous web is a specialized, membranous environment for hepatitis C virus genome replication and assembly.

Figure 1

Translation of the HCV genome and processing of the HCV polyprotein occurs on the ER. Genome replication occurs in double-membrane vesicles. Virion assembly is initiated by the association of the viral genomic RNA with core protein on the surface of lipid droplets that are coated with the NS5A protein and that are usually proximal to sites of genome replication. The double-membrane vesicles and lipid droplets where genome replication and assembly, respectively, occur are derived from the ER and together appear as a “membranous web” (see electron micrograph inset). Subgenomic replicons derived from the HCV genomic RNA provide useful tools for studying translation and replication of the HCV RNA in the absence of viral entry, virion assembly, and egress. Desmosterol has been detected in replicase-containing membranes by LC-MS analysis (Figure 2) and in NS5A-associated lipid droplets by stimulated Raman scattering microscopy11.