GENERATION OF HYBRID GENES AND PROTEINS BY VIRUS-MEDIATED RECOMBINATION

摘要

The ability of viruses to undergo recombination within tandemly arranged homologous sequences can be utilized to generate chimeric genes and proteins. Tandemly arranged homologous sequences will rapidly degenerate in a random fashion to yield a single copy comprised of portions of both original sequences. Therefore, a recombinant virus which contains two related but non-identical genes in tandem array yields a population of recombinant viruses which contain a spectrum of hybrid sequences derived from recombination between the original genes. The viruses, therefore, contain hybrid DNA sequences that encode proteins with new epitopes or different combinations of epitopes. Vaccines are derived which may afford protection against a broad spectrum of antigen types.