| Department of Plant Biology | |||||||||||||
| Earliest Possible Year | |||||||||||||
| Duration | 1 semester | ||||||||||||
| Credits | 6 (ECTS) | ||||||||||||
| Course Level | Joint BSc and MSc also appropriate as a Ph.D. course | ||||||||||||
| Examination | written examination Aid allowed Description of Examination: 13-point scale, internal examiner Dates of Exam: | ||||||||||||
| Organisation of Teaching | Lectures/theoretical exercises: 1 course module per week | ||||||||||||
| Block Placement | E2, fall | ||||||||||||
| Teaching Language | English | ||||||||||||
| Optional Prerequisites | 055814 Basic Plant Pathology 057518 Plant Biology 120311 Genetics, Botany and Breeding of Horticultural Plants 045121 Molecular Genetics A basic understanding of genetics and gene function is at least as important as a basic course in plant pathology. | ||||||||||||
| Course Objectives | |||||||||||||
| To provide an understanding of the basic mechanisms used by plant pathogens to attack plants and by plants to defend themselves, namely genetic aspects of host/pathogen interactions and cellular, biochemical and molecular processes that underlie important plant defences. The importance of pathogen population structure and cultural principles on the management of disease resistance is also covered. | |||||||||||||
| Course Contents | |||||||||||||
| Plant diseases caused by pathogenic micro-organisms are among the most important factors affecting quality and yield of crop plants. Disease resistance is a biological and environmentally-friendly form of plant protection depending on natural, biological defence in plants against pathogenic micro-organisms. With the rapid development of biotechnology and knowledge of the physiology of plants it is expected that resistance will reduce the significance of the use of chemical agents for disease control in agricultural and horticultural practice. It is therefore essential that agriculture and horticulture graduates have a clear understanding of the biology of host-pathogen interactions. Topics covered include: Pathogen populations and disease resistance. Epidemiology and evolution. Resistance to seedborne diseases. Resistance in less-developed crops. Resistance to bacterial diseases. Control strategies based on resistance. Disease resistance, epidemics, crop growth and yield. Assessing resistance in a variable environment. Assessment of epidemiological parameters and their use in epidemiological models. Bacterial Pathogenicity and Pathogenicity mutants. Fungal Pathogenicity. Toxins. Tissue barriers, structural and active. Hypersensitive reactions. Active oxygen types. Induced resistance. The pathogen-activated defence responses of plants. Genomics and microarrays. Elicitation and Signal transduction pathways. Genetic basis of disease resistance. The pathogen fights back: suppressors Mutants in Arabidopsis: how to understand signal transduction pathways in plant defences. Towards disease resistance through transgenic plants. | |||||||||||||
| Teaching And Learning Methods | |||||||||||||
| The teaching will introduce the students to recent research results and their application within these areas. Finally, the course also provides an essential part of the training needed for students who wish to conduct research in the plant sciences at the Ph.D. level at KVL or elsewhere. Lectures and theoretical exercises based on primary literature. These include basic elements of infection mechanisms of the pathogens; cellular, biochemical and molecular defence reactions of the plants; bioenergetic consequences of resistance; population dynamics and resistance; host plant diversity and resistance as well as induced resistance. | |||||||||||||
| Course Litterature | |||||||||||||
| Lucas, J. A. Plant Pathology and Plant Pathogens, Blackwell Science, Oxford, UK, 1998 As the chapters indicated were curriculum for "Basic Plant Pathology" for the last couple of years, we assume that you have the book and have read these chapters previously. A. J. Slusarenko, R. S. S. Fraser, and L. C. van Loon, (eds) 2000 Mechanisms of Resistance to Plant Diseases, Dordrecht:Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000 Primary literature and review articles See website for details | |||||||||||||
| Course Coordinator | |||||||||||||
| David B. Collinge, dbc@life.ku.dk, Department of Plant Biology/Plant Pathology Section, Phone: 35333356 | |||||||||||||
| Study Board | |||||||||||||
| Study Committee AHJ | |||||||||||||
| Course Scope | |||||||||||||
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