Lecture Title

Main Themes/Principles

1

Intro to the Plant and Plant Cell (ppt1)

-The organic chemistry of life (Carbon is a scaffold upon which N, P, S are attached to make molecules reactive in an aqueous environment).  This is why we must add water and fertilizer and need CO2 for a plant.
-Life exists because of (hydrophobic) compartments
-There are regulated pores/channels that allow cells to communicate with their environment

2

Molecular I - What does a gene do and how? - transcription/translation (ppt2)

A gene encodes RNA which encodes a protein.
A gene may be switched on and off.  This switching on and off allows for the creation of multiple cell types and allows an organism to respond to a constantly changing environment by turning on and off the expression of useful proteins.

3

Genetics I - Genetic Change (ppt3)

Over evolutionary time, plants can adapt to a changing environment by altering their genes. 
Allelic diversity creates phenotypic diversity and has resulted in a variety of plants.  This lecture discusses the mechanism by which genetic change is created. 

4

Genetics II - Mendelian genetics (ppt4)

Genes are carried on chromosomes and chromosomes recombine during sex to create genetic diversity.  
This lecture explains why reproduction happens and the basis of plant breeding.

5

Molecular II - Proteins and enzymes (ppt5)

What do proteins and enzymes do and how do they do it?
This lecture helps to explain why N, P, S are so important (required to build proteins); why abiotic stresses such as cold and drought are deleterious (they misfold proteins), and how certain herbicides or pesticides act.

6

Molecular III - Gene regulatory networks (ppt6)

This lecture explains how cells communicate with neighboring cells or far-away cells, and introduces the concept of plant hormones. 
This lecture explains how cells can signal to one another to respond to a changing environment and how they can coordinate a response (for example, to a pathogen attack).

7

8

Biochem I - Primary metabolism/Physiology (ppt7)

Biochem II - Primary metabolism/Physiology (ppt 8)

How are CO2 and H20 and soil nutrients converted by the plant into complex molecules and energy?
These lectures explain how plant nutrients used by humans and other animals are created, transported and stored in the plant.
These lectures explain why limitations in the enzymes that cause nitrogen reduction and CO2 reduction are responsible for the water/fertilizer shortages in agriculture.

9

Biochem III - Obtaining Nitrogen (ppt9)

How do plants get reduced Nitrogen from the environment (Rhizobium, etc.) and what are the costs and benefits of natural nitrogen fixation (eg. plants must give up reduced carbon) vs fertilizers.

10

Plant Reproduction and Development I (ppt10)

What are the consequences and adaptations necessary for being an immobile, autotrophic organism:
-how plant cell division occurs
-basic plant anatomy  and plant architecture
-plants must have "plastic"/flexible development using post-embryonic stem cell populations which can respond to abiotic stresses and mechanical wounding, etc.

11

Plant Reproduction and Development II (ppt11)

The mechanics of flowering plant reproduction and fertilization.
Where do seeds come from?
Key concepts in the grain fill period and the effects of plant senescence on seed growth.

12

Plant Reproduction/Development and Crop Domestication (ppt12)

How do genes switch on and off to create complex organs such as meristems and flowers?
How did ancient farmers alter wild plants? Case-Study is Maize vs Teosinte. The key steps in domestication are:
-reduction in vegetative growth
-increase in seed number and seed size
-flowering photoperiod insensitivity
-reduction/loss of seed dormancy
-loss of natural seed dispersal mechanisms

13

Plant Response to a changing environment I (ppt13)

Abiotic Stress
-- How cold, water and drought stress cause similar problems and how the plant responds to these stresses (production of osmolytes, etc.)

14

15

Plant Response to a changing environment II (ppt14)

Plant Response to a changing environment III (ppt15)

Biotic Stress
-Introduction to Secondary Metabolism -- plants biochemistry is very plastic/flexible, and allows plants to cope with a changing environment
-Chemical Ecology -- How plants use mechanical barriers and secondary metabolites to respond to pathogens.
-Introduction to viruses, bacteria, fungi, nematodes, insects
-The concept of natural vs artificial plant pesticides
-Genetic and molecular breeding of disease and pathogen resistance
-Bt toxin as a Case-Study

16

The past and future of agriculture at the plant level - traditional breeding vs. molecular breeding (ppt16)

What did the first 10,000 years of natural breeding do?  What did the Green Revolution do?  What must the next Green Revolution do and how can we do it?
What are current limitations of plants as nutrient-gathering and storage organisms for humans and how can we overcome them using traditional breeding and new molecular breeding methods?