This course deals with the rapidly developing fields of modern molecular genetics, genetic technology and the study of genes in families and populations. It includes a survey of the organisation of DNA within genes and chromosomes, DNA replication and repair, the processes and control of gene expression, gene transfer and mobility, mutations, and the structure of proteins. Work on genetic technology includes consideration of the use of recombinant DNA and the polymerase chain reaction, and the applications of biotechnology. Modes of inheritance, the mechanisms of linkage and recombination, genetic mapping, genetic evolution and aspects of human and medical genetics are also surveyed. For students intending to take Plant Science courses at level 3, PL 1901 is also recommended.
Plants dominate our landscape, and our lives, as they have done throughout our history.
This is largely due to their diversity as a result of their remarkable ability to adapt to life in a changing environment and, more recently, to man. This course reviews the origins and extent of this diversity and illustrates how molecular approaches give insights into the nature and causes of plant diversity. The course highlights the distinguishing features of each group of plant and analyses how their diversity may have arisen. The origin and domestication of food plants is outlined with special attention to the role of man in the breeding of wheat, barley and rice and to the more recent novel methods of generating plant diversity by genetic modification. The importance of fungi is discussed, with emphasis on their nutritional strategies, both as important plant pathogens and symbionts, and decomposers.