THE RAPID SPREAD OF RECOMBINANTS DURING A NATURAL IN-VITRO INFECTION WITH 2 HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS TYPE-1 STRAINS

We quantified a population of recombinants in a natural in vitro infec tion, using wild-type viruses without any pressure, It was found that recombinants emerged early after infection and constituted more than 2 0% of the whole proviral population 15 days after infection, Furthermo re, recombinants were isolated as infectious viruses by simple limitin g dilution, These results imply that, in addition to the high mutation rate of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), recombination am ong HIV-1 strains plays a significant part in the development of the h igh diversity of HIV-1.