Recombination occurs in many RNA viruses and can be of major evolutionary significance. However, rates of recombination vary dramatically among RNA viruses, which can range from clonal to highly recombinogenic. Here, we review the factors that might explain this variation in recombination frequency and show that there is little evidence that recombination is favoured by natural selection to create advantageous genotypes or purge deleterious mutations, as predicted if recombination functions as a form of sexual reproduction. Rather, recombination rates seemingly reflect larger-scale patterns of viral genome organization, such that recombination may be a mechanistic by-product of the evolutionary pressures acting on other aspects of virus biology.
it is possible for RNA virus strains to recombine/cross pollinate.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21725337/
seems to vary a lot by virus in terms of frequency. i'm not aware of this as a major trend in sars, but also have not really looked into it.
So how do the two virus strains meet up to cross pollinate? Would this not mean that a person would have to be infected with the two strains at once?
yes, in fact, an individual cell would need to be.
it does occur in the wild but prevalence seems to be highly variable by virus.
did you read the link above? will walk you through some of it.
In other words, I can see it happening in a laboratory, or otherwise intentionally, but not so much in the wild.
Recombination occurs in many RNA viruses and can be of major evolutionary significance. However, rates of recombination vary dramatically among RNA viruses, which can range from clonal to highly recombinogenic. Here, we review the factors that might explain this variation in recombination frequency and show that there is little evidence that recombination is favoured by natural selection to create advantageous genotypes or purge deleterious mutations, as predicted if recombination functions as a form of sexual reproduction. Rather, recombination rates seemingly reflect larger-scale patterns of viral genome organization, such that recombination may be a mechanistic by-product of the evolutionary pressures acting on other aspects of virus biology.
Thank you. Never thought of that.