Reversing insect adaptation to transgenic insecticidal plants

The refuge–high–dose strategy for delaying insect adaptation to transgenic plants produces non–transgenic plants that enable survival of susceptible individuals. Previous theoretical work has suggested three requirements for success of the refuge–high–dose strategy: a low initial frequency of the resistance allele, extensive mating between resistant and susceptible adults and recessive inheritance of resistance. In order to understand an observed decrease in resistance frequency and improve the potential for managing resistance better, we used analytical and simulation models for exploring the conditions that prevent or reverse the evolution of resistance, even when resistance is not rare initially. Assuming random mating and recessive or nearly recessive inheritance of resistance, the factors favouring reversal of resistance are non–recessive costs of resistance, low initial resistance allele frequency, large refuges, incomplete resistance and density–independent population growth in refuges.