Reassortment is the fragmentation and reassembly of the genetic material of two similar viruses that are infecting the same cell.

The most common application of reassortment is in vaccine production. By reassortment, genes coding for part of the protein coat of a harmful virus can be added to a harmless one, thus producing a harmless virus that triggers an immune response to the harmful target virus.

Reassortment within chicken eggs has been employed to produce influenza vaccine since the 1950s. It is a fairly slow and low-yield process, so there is some concern about whether a global outbreak of a new strain of influenza could be stopped before growing into a pandemic.

See also

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• Antigenic shift

References

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"Flu Vaccine Production Gets a Shot in the Arm". Ernie Hood, Environmental Health Perspectives Volume 114, Number 2, February 2006.

External links

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• An animation from hmmi.org illustrating the process

reassortment