Reassortment

High school (ages 12+)
Science & Technology

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/reassortment

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the mechanism of genetic novelty?Exchange of entire genome segments between co-infecting viruses with segmented genomes
2. What is the required viral architecture?Presence of a segmented genome, characteristic of many RNA viruses
3. What is reassortment in viruses?Reassortment is when two viruses that share a segmented genome swap whole pieces of their genetic material, creating a new mix. It only happens in viruses with segmented genomes, like many RNA viruses. This mixing can produce a virus that looks different from its parents.
4. How does reassortment happen in a cell?When two different viruses infect the same cell, their RNA pieces are copied at the same time. During the building of new virus particles, the pieces can mix and pair with the wrong partners, so the new viruses carry a combination from both parents.

Segmented Genome: A viral genome composed of multiple discrete nucleic acid molecules, facilitating segment exchange.
Zoonotic Transmission: The transmission of a disease from animals to humans, often facilitated by viral reassortment.
Progeny Virion: A newly formed virus particle that is the result of viral replication within a host cell.