PLSCS 6100

Plant Responses to Environmental Stresses and Global Climate Change

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2017-2018.

Abiotic stresses including drought, temperature extremes, flooding, salinity, and toxic metals limit crop productivity, particularly in developing countries where people are resource-poor and have limited options. Anticipated global climate changes are expected to exacerbate the impact of stresses even further. Therefore, knowledge of stress response mechanisms is urgently needed for developing novel molecular breeding and genomics approaches for generating plants and management systems that will improve performance in hostile environmental conditions. This course explores the molecular, physiological, developmental and morphological characteristics that plants use to adapt to environmental stresses. Emphases are placed on stresses associated with global climate change including drought, flooding, extreme temperatures, salt, and environmental pollution. The course will also discuss strategies for improving stress tolerance in crops. Graduate students will have assignments for in-depth learning of each topic. Examination questions will differ for graduate students to evaluate assigned material. Graduate students will write a paper for one of the topics and present it in class.

When Offered Fall.

Prerequisites/Corequisites Prerequisite: course work in advanced plant sciences, molecular biology and biochemistry or permission of instructor.

• Have an in-depth understanding of the impact of various abiotic stresses on plant metabolism, growth, development and yield.
• Describe adaptation/resistance mechanisms of plants to different abiotic factors.
• Compare common and unique effects of various abiotic stress and crosstalk between pathways that lead to plants adaptation/resistance.
• Understand approaches and scientific basis behind approaches for improving plant stress tolerance.
• Improve ability to analyze and critique the primary scientific literature, scientific writing and communication skills.
• Explain, evaluate and interpret original experimental data of the response of plants to environmental conditions, and design and interpret results of one's own experiments.

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