Survey of modern aspects of plant physiology with emphasis on recent literature. Principles and techniques of biological electron microscopy. Use and operation of the transmission electron microscope in studying macromolecules, viruses, cells, and tissues. Whole plant and cell response to water deficits from a physiological perspective. Focus on agronomic plants.
Techniques involve thermocouple psychrometry, gas exchange, and porometry.
Objectives in breeding programs. Classical and molecular genetics of higher plants, including breeding systems, linkage analysis, recombination, gene and chromosomal mutations, epigenetics, genetics-based approaches to cloning, genetic analysis of metabolic pathways, biochemical genetics of storage compounds. Cladistics and phylogeny, vegetative structure, physiology, diversity, plant development, ecology of highly specialized angiosperms. Fundamental and applied aspects of plant molecular biology, including isolation, structure, and regulation of nuclear and organellar genes, molecular biology of plant-microbe interactions, molecular biology of plant development and plant biotechnology. This course examines how genetic and cellular activities contribute to plant development.