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Glite Dictionary
🧬 To mix genes 🔄 To sort again
to reassort

to reassort

8.7
To mix genes from two viruses to make new strains
  • verb
  • /ˌriːəˈsɔːrt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : reordenar
  • When influenza successfully infects a new species—say, pigs—it can reassort and may switch from being an avian virus to a mammalian one.
  • viruses reassort

Examples

  • When two different strains of the flu infect the same cell, they can reassort, potentially leading to new viral variants.

  • Once in the lung cells of a mammalian host, the virus can "reassort," or mix genes, with human influenza viruses that are also present.

    Academic text (2005)

  • However, these viruses have wide geographic distribution and the potential to reassort with human seasonal influenza viruses.

    Academic text (2015)

  • In the laboratory, researchers observed how the influenza virus can reassort, creating new genetic combinations that may affect its virulence.

  • The study focused on how environmental factors influence the ability of viruses to reassort and adapt to new hosts.

Synonyms

to recombine
vsto reassort
  • Specialized
1 6.4

To join pieces of DNA or genes to make new genetic material

is a virus-focused mixing that rearranges segments into new combinations

How Mixed

to recombine
  • Specialized
1 6.4
to reassort
  • Specialized
8.7
to blend
255 2.3
to shuffle
20 2.7
to mix
416 1.0

Surface Forms

reassort infinitive
reassorted past
reassorted past participle
reassorting present participle
reassorts third person singular

Morphology

reassort = assort (semi-transparent) = re + assort

The structure re- + assort is clear, but the virology sense is a specialized technical usage that may not be fully inferable to an average learner.

Etymology

Reassort is made of re- 'again' and assort 'to sort', the same idea you see in sort and assortment. Think of viruses shuffling their gene pieces like cards, and when they reassort they mix genes into new combinations.