Luciferase reporter activities as a function of compliance with hexamer phasing in the 3′-leader of RD MGs. (A) Performance of MG 3′-leaders in which the NP (wt) HP was replaced with HP structures derived from the transcription start region of internal EBOV genes, normalized to the MG carrying the NP (wt) 3′-leader; bar color: conforming (blue) or not conforming (gray) to hexamer phasing. (B) MG 3′-leaders with HP structures of internal EBOV genes, which were mutated by deletion or insertion of nucleotides to conform to hexamer phasing (red bars). (C) RD MGs carrying the NP (wt) HP or variants with 1-nt deletions or insertions (for more details, see Fig. 4B). Mean values (±SEM) are based on three independent experiments with at least three technical replicates each. (***) P < 0.001 (unpaired t-test).
