P. Palese investigated the genetic evolution of Influenza A virus. A 1979 study with J. F. Young compared RNA fingerprints and peptide mapping to infer the origins of different parts of a viral genome.[ref]
Evolution of human influenza A viruses in nature: recombination contributes to genetic variation of H1N1 strains by J. F. Young and P. Palese. PNAS76, pp.6547–6551; Abstract and primary byline
The strain A/Cal/10/78 retained the H1N1 designation, yet the analysis suggested that some internal genetic segments came from an H3N2 parent. The result supported reassortment: a surface subtype need not describe the ancestry of every segment in a segmented genome. This distinction lets a scientist ask two different questions about the same virus: what surface antigens it carries, and where its complete genetic material came from.[ref]
P. Palese
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