Begomoviruses (Family Geminiviridae) are highly recombinogenic ssDNA viruses. Two begomovirus infectious clones of Tomato yellow leaf curl and Tomato leaf curl Mayotte viruses (Tyx, Tox; 18% nt divergence) were inoculated in 6 tomato plants. Recombinants were isolated from 30 days post inoculation (dpi). At 150 and 330 dpi more than 40% of the isolated genomes were recombinants. Unexpectedly, Tyx the most fit of the two parents tend to be eliminated at 330dpi. The most frequently isolated recombinant (R4) was prepared as an infectious clone and tested for its fitness in coinfection with Tyx and Tox. Its infectivity (% of infected plants) was significantly higher than Tox, the parent with the lowest infectivity, but similar to Tyx. Viral DNA accumulation of R4 was 10 times lower than Tyx, the parent which accumulated the most. It is proposed that complementation between several recombinants may eliminate TYLCV but possibly none of them individually may be better. (Texte intégral)