Similarly, in cells transfected with ORF3-deficient variant RNA (pHEV3b/ΔORF3 RNA), which exclusively produces neHEV intracellularly, the expression of ORF2 protein within the virus-infection foci in ZO-1 KO cells was also significantly lower than that in NC KO cells, consistent with the findings from wild-type RNA transfection (Figure 10, lower panels). Here, TJP1 is linked to infection.