Stability and competitiveness of interviral recombinant RNAs derived from a chimeric cucumovirus

We previously described interviral recombinant RNAs derived from a chimeric virus having RNAs 1 and 2 of cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) with RNA 3 from the related tomato aspermy virus (TAV) and the 2b gene from either TAV or another strain of CMV. Here, we show that these interviral recombinant RNAs 3 were stable in the infected plants and could co-exist with their wild-type parental viral RNAs in the same plants, but their de novo generations were inhibited in the presence of the wild-type parental viral RNAs. The recombinant viral genomes did not prevent the replication of other viral RNAs or vice versa, but one of the interviral recombinant viruses induced different symptoms in Physalis floridana from those induced by the parental chimeric virus without the interviral RNA 3 recombinant. Factors such as the nature of the 2b gene and/or the presence or absence of competing wild-type parental RNAs influenced the generation of the recombinant RNAs described. Our data provide additional mechanistic insight into generation, stabilization and competition of recombinant viral RNA in infected host plants.