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The spatiotemporal dynamics of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) RNA localisation are poorly understood. To address this we engineered HCV genomes harbouring MS2 bacteriophage RNA stem-loops within the 3′-untranslated region to allow tracking of HCV RNA via specific interaction with a MS2-Coat-mCherry fusion protein. Despite the impact of these insertions on viral fitness, live imaging revealed that replication of tagged-HCV genomes induced specific redistribution of the mCherry-tagged-MS2-Coat protein to motile and static foci. Further analysis showed that HCV RNA was associated with NS5A in both static and motile structures while a subset of motile NS5A structures was devoid of HCV RNA. Further investigation of viral RNA traffic with respect to lipid droplets (LDs) revealed HCV RNA-positive structures in close association with LDs. These studies provide new insights into the dynamics of HCV RNA traffic with NS5A and LDs and provide a platform for future investigations of HCV replication and assembly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS5A is essential for viral genome replication within cytoplasmic replication complexes and virus assembly at the lipid droplet (LD) surface, although its definitive functions are poorly understood. We developed approaches to investigate NS5A dynamics during a productive infection. We report here that NS5A motility and efficient HCV RNA replication require the microtubule network and the cytoplasmic motor dynein and demonstrate that both motile and relatively static NS5A-positive foci are enriched with host factors VAP-A and Rab5A. Pulse-chase imaging revealed that newly synthesized NS5A foci are small and distinct from aged foci, while further studies using a unique dual fluorescently tagged infectious HCV chimera showed a relatively stable association of NS5A foci with core-capped LDs. These results reveal new details about the dynamics and maturation of NS5A and the nature of potential sites of convergence of HCV replication and assembly pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]