title: Homologous recombination is unlikely to play a major role in influenza B virus evolution.
abstract: Influenza B viruses cause a significant amount of morbidity and mortality. The occurrence of homologous recombination in influenza viruses is controversial. To determine the extent of homologous recombination in influenza B viruses, recombination analyses of 2,650 sequences representing all eight segments of the influenza B viruses were carried out. Only four sequences were indentified as putative recombinants, which were verified using phylogenetic methods. However, the mosaics detected here were much likely to represent cases of laboratory-generated artificial recombinants. As in other myxoviruses, it is unlikely that homologous recombination plays a major role in influenza B virus evolution.
authors.affiliation: National Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Agronomy, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an 271018, China. hanguanzhu@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Guan-Zhu
authors.initials: GZ
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Xi-Ping
authors.initials: XP
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Si-Shen
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D009981:Influenza B virus / Q000235:genetics*; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D017421:Sequence Analysis; D012984:Software
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral