NS5B insertion sequence mutants. NS5B amino acid positions are indicated at the top (17) (GenBank accession number AF009606). Fully conserved, conserved, and similar residues found among 269 HCV isolates are symbolized by asterisks, colons, and dots, respectively (32). #, minimal transmembrane segment, as deduced from various prediction methods (32); +, positively charged Arg residues. Mutated amino acid residues are underlined.