AGR 4304 - Plant Chromosomes and Genomes (Syllabus)

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Course Description
Concepts to be introduced include plant DNA organization in chromosome structure, principles and technologies of cytogenetics, plant genomic DNA structure and function, transcriptome, DNA sequencing technologies/applications, basic tools for nucleotide sequence analysis, and plant genomic databases. This course is designed to introduce students to plant chromosome structures, inheritance, and the basic genomic tools to analyze plant genomes.

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Course Objectives:

By the end of this course students will be able to:
1. Understand how the genetic material is organized in the chromosome structure for determining inheritance.
2. Explain how chromosome number and structure variations are associated with the abnormal inheritance and disorders.
3. Identify appropriate cytogenetic techniques to address genetic questions.
4. Understand how DNA sequence is determined and genomic information is generated
5. Apply the sequencing technologies for genotyping
6. Annotate the plant genome and analyze the genomic sequences using basic bioinformatics tools.
7. Mine the GenBank to solve related biological and genetic problems.

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AGR 4905: Undergraduate Independent Study (Syllabus)

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Course Description:

The purpose of AGR4905 Undergraduate Independent Study supervised by Dr. Jianping Wang is to teach students basic molecular biological techniques in the laboratory, which are necessary to conduct an experiment to address plant genetic and biological research questions. The students will learn how to read and analyze scientific literature, develop a scientific hypothesis, and apply the techniques for conducting the research to test the hypothesis.

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Course objectives:

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By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. Read, discuss and critique scientific literature;

2, Perform DNA extraction, RNA extraction, RNA/DNA quantification and quantification, primer design, PCR, gel electrophoresis, gel image documentation, PCR products purification, DNA fragment cloning, DNA sequencing, and DNA sequence analysis

3. Organize their procedures, record data and write scientific observations in a laboratory note book;

4. Analyze data, present and discuss the results in writing

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AGR 3303: Genetics (Syllabus)

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Course Description:

AGR3303 Genetics presents a comprehensive coverage of the principles, theory and applications of genetics.  Topics includes the chemical nature and structure of genetic material, gene expression and regulation, cell division, chromosome number and structure variation, principles of inheritance, molecular genetic techniques, and basic concepts in population and quantitative genetics.

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Course objectives:

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Upon completion of AGR 3303 Genetics, students will be able to:

1. Define the basic genetic terms.

2. Describe what the chemical nature and structure of genetic materials are, how genes are expressed, and how gene expression is regulated.

3. Understand the chromosome structure, variation, and gene mutation

4. Determine parental genotypes and phenotypes through analyzing genotypes and phenotypes of their progeny or determine the genotype and phenotype of progeny based on the parents’ genotypes

5. List and explain the basic molecular genetic techniques and their applications.

6. Extend the knowledge to other genetic related areas, such as molecular genetics, quantitative genetics, population genetics, genomics, breeding, evolution, biochemistry, and biotechnology.

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