Cell culture adaptation of hepatitis C virus and in vivo viability of an adapted variant.

ABSTRACT: Production of infectious hepatitis C virus in cell culture has become possible because of the unique properties of the JFH1 isolate. However, virus titers are rather low, limiting the utility of this system. Here we describe the generation of cell culture-adapted JFH1 variants yielding higher titers of infectious particles and enhanced spread of infection in cultured cells. Sequence analysis of adapted genomes revealed a complex pattern of mutations that differed in two independent experiments. Adaptive mutations were observed both in the structural and in the nonstructural regions, with the latter having the highest impact on enhancement of virus titers. The major adaptive mutation was identified in NS5A, and it enhanced titers of three intergenotypic chimeras consisting of the structural

SUBMITTER: Kaul A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2169131 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature