Changes in the GN/GCof the M segment show positive selection and recombination of one aggressive isolate and two mild isolates of tomato spotted wilt virus.

We isolated and compared three tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) isolates from lettuce (TSWV-Let), pepper (TSWV-Pep), and tomato (TSWV-Tom) from central Mexico to determine their ability to infect a set of eighteen differential plant species from seven families. TWSV-Let was an aggressive isolate with the ability to infect up to 52% of the differential plants, including maize, under greenhouse conditions. The nucleotide (nt) sequences of the three isolates are more than 90% similar in the M and S RNA segments. In the M segment of the TSWV-Let isolate, we detected nt changes in their intergenic region (IGR) and, in the Gc gene, a region containing a recombination site, as well as a synapomorphy associated with one of three sites under positive selection with a change in one aa residue (a cysteine-to-valine mutation). We speculate on the association of these features in the Gc gene with host selection, adaptation, aggressiveness, and ability to infect maize plants.