Fitness advantage of inter-species TYLCV recombinants induced by beneficial intra-genomic interactions rather than by specific mutations

Abstract Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) and its related viruses are prone to recombination. It was reported that random homologous recombination between 20% diverging TYLCV related species is rarely deleterious and may be associated with a fitness advantage. Indeed, TYLCV-IS76, a recombinant between the 20% divergent TYLCV and tomato yellow leaf curl Sardinia virus, exhibited a higher fitness than that of parental viruses. As this typical fitness advantage was observed with TYLCV-IS76 representatives of different pedigrees, it was thought that it is induced by beneficial intra-genomic interactions rather than by specific mutations. This hypothesis was further supported with TYLCV-IS141, a TYLCV recombinant with a short TYLCSV inherited fragment of around 141 nts, slightly longer than that of TYLCV-IS76. Indeed, the typical fitness advantage was detected irrespective of the position of the recombination breakpoint (loci 76 or 141) and the sequences of the TYLCV and TYLCSV inherited fragments.