Strain / variant

[geert.maertens at pandora.be]

To me a strain is identical to the whole of the quasispecies infecting a
patient, if one uses eg body fluid samples. If isolated from culture,
the strain is the isolate. A variant is a virus with a particular
genomic variation. This can be a single virus, or most of the viruses
present in an isolate or strain.

Geert

Matt Hicks wrote:
> 
> Hi People,
> Just wondered what you think the difference is (if any?) between a strain
> and a variant - as we have been discussing this and cannot agree....
> 
> Thanks in advance for any input,
> 
> **************************************************
> 
> Dr. Matthew R. Hicks
> Research Fellow
> School of Biological Sciences
> University of Sussex
> Falmer
> BN1 9QG
> UK
> 
> Tel:   +44(0)1273 678923
> Fax:   +44(0)1273 678433
> email: matth at biols.sussex.ac.uk
> 
> **************************************************
> 
> ---

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