Figure 3.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication. (A) First HCV RNA replication in cultured cells. In 1999, Lohmann and colleagues reported the first efficient replication of an HCV subgenomic replicon. These investigators replaced a region encoding several HCV structural proteins (with or without the gene encoding NS2) with a neomycin-resistance-encoding gene (neo). IRES, internal ribosome entry site; EMCV, encephalomyocarditis virus. (B) Subgenomic replicon experiment. Subgenomic replicon RNA was synthesized in vitro and transfected into Huh7 cells by electroporation, followed by G418 selection culture for several weeks, resulting in the establishment of replicons. Robust replication of viral RNA was observed in these cells (Lohmann et al. 1999).