Genetic recombination of the DNA plant virus PBCV1 in a Chlorella-like alga.
Genetic recombination between mutant alleles of a DNA plant virus has not previously been observed following infection with intact virions; nor has recombination been observed in any species of the alga Chlorella With techniques borrowed from bacteriophage genetics, I isolated temperature-sensitive mutants of the DNA virus PBCV1 and showed in three pairwise crosses that they recombined genetically in Chlorella at frequencies of approximately 1%. A thorough genetic analysis of a DNA plant virus now appears simple and practical.
Tessman
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Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA.