Figure 1.

Structures of HCV replicon plasmids. The pRep‐Feo expressed a chimeric reporter protein of firefly luciferase (Fluc) and neomycin phosphotransferase (GenBank accession No. AB119282). ¹⁴ , ²⁰ The pRep‐Fluc expressed the Fluc protein. The pRep‐BSD expressed the blasticidin S (BSD) resistance gene. pT7, T7 promoter; 5′UTR, HCV 5′‐untranslated region; ΔC, truncated HCV core region (nt. 342–377); neo, neomycin phosphotransferase gene; EMCV, encephalomyocarditis virus; NS3, NS4, NS5A and NS5B, genes that encode HCV non‐structural proteins; 3′UTR, HCV 3′‐untranslated region.