Genetic drift as a tool to increase the durability of plant qualitative resistance to viruses

Plant qualitative (i.e. total) resistance to viruses is an efficient way of protecting crops, but it is often broken down by the emergence of adapted virus variants, able to infect those resistant plants. This evolutionary phenomenon can occur particularly quickly in monocultures deployed in vast areas. Different strategies have been studied, aiming at increasing the durability of resistant crops, such as the use of multiline cultivars or cultivar mixtures in space and time. Here we study a complementary strategy that can yield interesting results in terms of yield increase and resistance durability. It exploits the evolutionary principles governing virus populations for the management of plant resistance, particularly regarding the effect of genetic drift on the evolution of plant viruses