Mapping of genomic segments of influenza B virus strains by an oligonucleotide microarray method.

Similar to other segmented RNA viruses, influenza viruses can exchange genome segments and form a wide variety of reassortant strains upon coreplication within a host cell. Therefore, the mapping of genome segments of influenza viruses is essential for understanding their phenotypes. In this work, we have developed an oligonucleotide microarray hybridization method for simultaneous genotyping of all genomic segments of two highly homologous strains of influenza B virus.