The current invention provides nucleic acid sequences comprising the genomes of infectious hepatitis C viruses (HCV) of genotype 1a and 1b. It covers the use of these sequences, and polypeptides encoded by all or part of the sequences, in the development of vaccines and diagnostic assays for HCV and the development of screening assays for the identification of antiviral agents for HCV.

Additional information can be found in: Yanagi et al., "Transcripts from a single full-length cDNA clone of hepatitis C virus are infectious when directly transfected into the liver of a chimpanzee," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (1997 August) 94(16):8738-8743; and Yanagi et al., "Transcripts of a chimeric cDNA clone of hepatitis C virus genotype 1b are infectious in vivo," Virology (25 April 1998) 244(1):161-172.