Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) isolates vary in their in vitro biologic characteristics such as cellular host range, replication kinetics, and cytopathicity. In this study, we molecularly exchanged equivalent regions between two cloned HIV-1 isolates with differing replicative and cytopathic properties. To facilitate generation of recombinant viruses, we used a method involving cotransfection of human monolayer cells with plasmid constructs containing half of the biologically active viral genome. The two halves of the genome were subsequently ligated by intracellular processes to form the complete proviral genome. This method simplifies plasmid construction, since new infectious virus particles can be produced easily from the individual constructs that are correctly ligated in vivo. Results obtained by using recombinant viruses generated in this manner indicate that the ability of HIV to replicate in specific cell types and cytopathicity segregate with the env region of the viral genome.