PLS620 - Plant Molecular Biology
Offered in the Fall Semester
T,Th, 8-9:15 AM, N12 Agriculture Science Center North
Prerequisites- undergraduate genetics, BCH607, or consent of instructor
Credits: 3
Instructor - Arthur Hunt
Office : 301A Plant Science Building
Phone: 257-5020 ext. 80776
e-mail: aghunt00@uky.edu
course web site: www.uky.edu/~aghunt00/PLS620/PLS620.html
Office hours: Fridays, 10:00 - 11:30 AM
This course is intended to be a treatment of current concepts of plant molecular
biology. It will be a literature-based course, supplemented by handouts and
reading lists. The course will deal as much as is possible with topics that
are unique to plants. Current aspects of molecu¬lar biology that are relevant
to the course content will be covered as well; however, these lectures will
not be a review of topics that should have been retained from introductory genetics
and biochemistry courses. Also, they will not be a substitute for a molecular
biology course.
The course will cover the following areas:
1. Gene structure, expression, and regulation in plants - an overview of nuclear
and organelle gene struc¬ture, function, and expression, with emphasis on
aspects that are unique to plant genes.
2. Genomics, systems biology, etc. - development of Arabidopsis as a model for
molecular genetic studies in plant biology, with examples that show the utility
of a multifaceted approach; an introduction to systems approaches, with some
emphasis on applications of concepts
3. Agrobacterium tumefaciens and the genetic engineering of plants - mechanism
of gene transfer from Agrobacterium to plants, strategies for gene transfer
in plants, selected topics pertaining to plant genetic engineering.
There will be no textbook. Lecture notes and assigned reading will be provided
on CD’s; the relevant files will be in pdf format, allowing ready access
from any computer platform.
50% of the grade will be determined by performance on a series of problem sets
that will be as¬signed periodically throughout the semester. There will
be four such assignments. Students will have one week to complete each set,
and should note that late problem sets will not be accepted.
An additional 20% of the grade will be derived from a research article dealing
with a characterization of one or more Arabidopsis genes. The research article
will be based on computer-derived data that can be obtained from a number of
public domain databases. The purpose of this exercise is to introduce students
to the concept of “data mining”, and to present research findings
in a formal written form.
Finally, students will be required to complete a review paper, and to present
a short (20-30 min) talk on the subject. This project will make up the remaining
30% of the grade.
Links to course materials
Syllabus: pdf
Gene Expression in Plants - overview of nuclear and organelle gene expression (pdf file)
A brief overview of Arabidopsis (pdf file)
Agrobacterium (pdf file)
Papers for class (requires password)
Lecture notes (pdf files):
6 - Protein synthesis and turnover
10 - Genomics and systems biology