Glossary

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Viral recombination

Creation of "new" viruses by the rearrangment of genetic material between different, existing viruses.

Viral recombination is a natural process that is important in viral evolution.

Viral recombination is relevant to genetically modified, virus-resistant plants.

Virus resistant, transgenic plants are developed by transforming the plant genome with a viral gene. This lowers the plant’s susceptibility to the respective virus. In some cases, it is possible that the transferred gene sequences could recombine with the genetic material of naturally occuring viruses.

Such recombinations have actually been shown. It is not known how often this occurs and the implications this may have on the genetics of pathogenic virus populations.