[The isolation and characteristics of reassortants between the Lassa and Mopeia arenaviruses].

Reassortants with a mixed phenotype were produced by combined inoculation of Vero cells with Lassa and Mopeya viruses. These reassortants produced small plaques (Mopeya virus phenotype) and were not pathogenic for newborn mice (Lassa virus phenotype). The genotype of the reassortants was studied by dot hybridization experiments on filters using cDNA-probes differentiating genome segments of these viruses. The reassortants were shown to have Mopeya virus L-RNA and Lassa virus S-RNA.