Improving the design of sustainable crop protection strategies thanks to population genetics concepts

Cropping genetically resistant plants allows to control pathogen populations while substantially reducing chemical inputs. However, resistances are often quickly defeated by pathogens. In this context, how can sustainable crop protection be achieved? This question has shaped the debate about the durability of genetic resistances in agriculture for decades, and, despite active research efforts, has not been satisfactorily answered yet. Here we demonstrate from a bibliography analysis that the research field of resistance durability evolved into two non-overlapping directions: (i) the subfield of 'epidemiology and evolution', which aims to forecast and explain pathogen population dynamics; (ii) the subfield of 'molecular interactions', which studies the molecular processes involved in the overcoming of resistance and in the dialogue between plants and pathogens. After reviewing briefly these two subfields and the gap between the corresponding research communities, we propose strategies to merge these approaches into one by using the concepts of population genetics. Ultimately, such new eco-evolutionary studies could be used to determine the best strategy for the deployment of genetically resistant cultivars by integrating, from gene to landscape, all relevant and contextual biological knowledge into sound theoretical models.