Achieving sustainable plant disease management through evolutionary principles.
Plants and their pathogens are engaged in continuous evolutionary battles and sustainable disease management requires novel systems to create environments conducive for short-term and long-term disease control. In this opinion article, we argue that knowledge of the fundamental factors that drive host-pathogen coevolution in wild systems can provide new insights into disease development in agriculture. Such evolutionary principles can be used to guide the formulation of sustainable disease management strategies which can minimize disease epidemics while simultaneously reducing pressure on pathogens to evolve increased infectivity and aggressiveness. To ensure agricultural sustainability, disease management programs that reflect the dynamism of pathogen population structure are essential and evolutionary biologists should play an increasing role in their design.
Key Laboratory of Integrated Pest Management for Fujian-Taiwan Crops, Ministry of Agriculture, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China; Fujian Key Laboratory of Plant Virology, Institute of Plant Virology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China. Electronic address: jiasui.zhan@fafu.edu.cn.
Jiasui
J
Zhan
CSIRO-Plant Industry, PO Box 1600, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
Peter H
PH
Thrall
CSIRO-Plant Industry, PO Box 1600, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
Jeremy J
JJ
Burdon
D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods; D005075:Biological Evolution; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions / Q000235:genetics; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics* / Q000382:microbiology*