Compositions and methods and for enhancing the resistance of plants to plant diseases caused by potyviruses are provided. The compositions comprise nucleic acid molecules encoding resistance (R) gene products and variants thereof and plants, seeds, and plant cells comprising such nucleic acid molecules. The methods for enhancing the resistance of a plant to plant disease caused by a potyvirus comprise introducing a nucleic acid molecule encoding an R gene product into a plant cell. Additionally provided are methods for using the plants in agriculture to limit plant disease.