TUT1 and infection: To determine whether the stabilization of the TUT1 mRNA could be directly attributed to XRN1 inhibition by the 5’ UTR of HCV or BVDV rather than other viral-specific aspects of infection, we transfected human 293T cells with reporter constructs expressing either GFP mRNA only or a GFP reporter mRNA containing viral 5’ UTR sequences inserted downstream of the open reading frame.