Structure-function relationship in viral RNA genomes: The case of hepatitis C virus

Figure 3 Theoretical folding of the 3’ end of the hepatitis C virus genomic RNA. The figure shows the entire 3’ end containing the cis-acting replicating element (CRE) region plus the 3’ untranslatable region (UTR). The 3’X-tail folds into two different conformers with distinct functional roles. Dimer linkage sequence (DLS) is shown in grey. Translation stop codon in position 9371 is indicated in bold. Nucleotide numbering is as noted in Figure 2.