The Rockefeller University, NY

1 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Immunology and Infection

Two Methods of Heterokaryon Formation to Discover HCV Restriction Factors

Anne Frentzen^*1, Kathrin Hueging^*1, Julia Bitzegeio², Thomas Pietschmann¹, Eike Steinmann¹

¹Division of Experimental Virology, Twincore, Centre for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research, ²Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, Laboratory of Retrovirology, The Rockefeller University, NY

We describe two methods for conditional trans-complementation of hepatitis C virus (HCV) assembly and the completion of the full viral life cycle, which rely on heterokaryon formation. These techniques are suitable to screen for cell lines that express dominant restriction factors, which preclude production of infectious HCV progeny.