Non‐random reassortment in human influenza A viruses

Background  The influenza A virus has two basic modes of evolution. Because of a high error rate in the process of replication by RNA polymerase, the viral genome drifts via accumulated mutations. The second mode of evolution is termed a shift, which results from the reassortment of the eight segments of this virus. When two different influenza viruses co‐infect the same host cell, new virions can be released that contain segments from both parental strains. This type of shift has been the source of at least two of the influenza pandemics in the 20th century (H2N2 in 1957 and H3N2 in 1968).

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