One of two modes of retroviral recombination. In making a DNA transcript of the two genomic RNA strands of a retrovirus, when the polymerase encounters a break on one template strand it continues on the other strand. More generally, the term describes recombination that occurs during minus strand synthesis. The other mode of retroviral recombination is the strand displacement-assimilation model, or recombination during plus strand DNA synthesis: when synthesis occurs on an intact RNA template, one fragment of DNA produced during the semi-discontinuous synthesis is displaced by the DNA strand being continuously synthesised on the other RNA template. Both modes of recombination have been detected.