Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Viral Recombination

Viral Recombination

Cells are sometimes infected by more than one virus at once. When two viruses disassemble to expose their genomes for replication in the same cell, similar regions of their genomes can pair together and exchange sequences in a process called recombination. Alternatively, viruses with segmented genomes can swap segments in a process called reassortment.

Viral Mutations

Viral Mutations

A mutation is a change in the sequence of bases of DNA or RNA in a genome. Some mutations occur during replication of the genome due to errors made by the polymerase enzymes that replicate DNA or RNA. Unlike DNA polymerase, RNA polymerase is prone to errors because it is not capable of “proofreading” its work. Viruses with RNA-based genomes, like HIV, therefore accrue mutations faster than viruses with DNA-based genomes. Because mutation and recombination provide the raw material for adaptive...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Reconstructing the viral histories of human, simian and prosimian immunodeficiency viruses across multiple evolutionary timescales.

Proceedings. Biological sciences·2026

Same author

2026 Bundibugyo virus outbreak: the role of genomics in <i>Orthoebolavirus</i> outbreaks.

Microbial genomics·2026

Same author

Pan-cancer spatial atlas of tertiary lymphoid structures.

Science (New York, N.Y.)·2026

Same author

Drug Screening of Sarcoma Cells: Finding Shared Sensitivities.

Cancer research communications·2026

Same author

The ARTEMIS trial identifies immune activation as a key predictor of neoadjuvant chemotherapy response in triple-negative breast cancer.

Breast cancer research : BCR·2026

Same author

Enabling DCIS subtyping: leveraging foundation models for robust grading and molecular biomarker scoring.

NPJ breast cancer·2026

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 5, 2026

Postmortem Diagnosis of Rabies in Animals by the Updated, Multiplexed LN34 Real-Time Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction Assay

Postmortem Diagnosis of Rabies in Animals by the Updated, Multiplexed LN34 Real-Time Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction Assay

Published on: May 2, 2025

Disease-associated XMRV sequences are consistent with laboratory contamination.

Stéphane Hué¹, Eleanor R Gray, Astrid Gall

¹MRC Centre for Medical Molecular Virology, Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, 46 Cleveland St, London W1T 4JF, UK.

|December 22, 2010

Summary

Xenotropic murine leukaemia virus-related virus (XMRV) detection in patients may be due to mouse DNA contamination. The study suggests XMRV may not be a human pathogen, potentially originating from cell line contamination.

More Related Videos

Retroviral Scanning: Mapping MLV Integration Sites to Define Cell-specific Regulatory Regions

Retroviral Scanning: Mapping MLV Integration Sites to Define Cell-specific Regulatory Regions

Published on: May 28, 2017

An Affordable HIV-1 Drug Resistance Monitoring Method for Resource Limited Settings

An Affordable HIV-1 Drug Resistance Monitoring Method for Resource Limited Settings

Published on: March 30, 2014

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 5, 2026

Postmortem Diagnosis of Rabies in Animals by the Updated, Multiplexed LN34 Real-Time Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction Assay

Postmortem Diagnosis of Rabies in Animals by the Updated, Multiplexed LN34 Real-Time Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction Assay

Published on: May 2, 2025

Retroviral Scanning: Mapping MLV Integration Sites to Define Cell-specific Regulatory Regions

Retroviral Scanning: Mapping MLV Integration Sites to Define Cell-specific Regulatory Regions

Published on: May 28, 2017

An Affordable HIV-1 Drug Resistance Monitoring Method for Resource Limited Settings

An Affordable HIV-1 Drug Resistance Monitoring Method for Resource Limited Settings

Published on: March 30, 2014

Area of Science:

Virology
Molecular Biology
Genetics

Background:

Xenotropic murine leukaemia viruses (MLV-X) are endogenous gammaretroviruses with broad host tropism.
Xenotropic murine leukaemia virus-related virus (XMRV) detection in human samples (prostate cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome) has been controversial due to inconsistent findings.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the origin and validity of XMRV detection in human samples.
To determine if XMRV is a genuine human pathogen.

Main Methods:

Utilized Taqman PCR with specific primers for XMRV detection.
Sequenced XMRV from the 22Rv1 cell line and patient samples.
Performed Bayesian phylogenetic analysis and genetic distance comparisons.
Analyzed pol and env gene sequences for recombination events.

Main Results:

XMRV-specific PCR primers amplified common murine endogenous viral sequences, indicating potential mouse DNA contamination.
Phylogenetic analysis showed XMRV sequences from patients formed a clade with 22Rv1 cell line sequences, with cell line sequences being ancestral.
Recombinant pol sequences were identified in patient samples, suggesting complex origins.
Greater genetic diversity was observed in XMRV sequences from the 22Rv1 cell line compared to patient-derived sequences.

Conclusions:

XMRV detection in patient samples is likely due to PCR contamination with mouse DNA.
Identified XMRV clones likely originated from the 22Rv1 tumor cell line, possibly infected during xenografting.
XMRV may not be a genuine human pathogen.