A revolving dose strategy to delay the evolution of both quantitative vs major monogene resistances to pesticides and drugs

The evolution of pesticide and drug resistance presents a daunting problem as the pests often evolve resistance after a short time. Debate once focused on whether resistance stems primarily from single major gene sources or sequential accumulation of quantitative traits. Such debates became moot, as examples of both are known, even within the same species and population. The type of resistance has important implications for determining the dosages that will delay the appearance of resistant populations. Successive high doses of a toxin (i.e. those well above the LD) can only select for monogenic 99 resistance, while the weaker selection pressure of low (near lethal) doses can also result in an incremental increase in quantitative changes leading to increasingly higher levels of resistance. We propose and use a model to mathematically test whether a revolving rotation of a series of low doses periodically alternated with a higher dose could delay the evolution of resistance longer than by applying a consta...