PLPA 4020 - Biology of Plant Pathogens

Spring. 3 credits.

Prerequisite: PLPA 3010 or consent of instructor.

K. L. Perry, M. Milgroom.

Biology and ecology of major groups of plant pathogens: fungi, bacteria, viruses, oomycete, and nematodes. Addresses concepts of plant disease, etiology, microbial communities, virulence, resistance, population biology, and epidemiology. Class meetings are largely discussion format with guided analysis of published research.

Outcome 1: To integrate organismal and population concepts for understanding plant - pathogen interaction; the outcome will be sufficient mastery to present examples for the biology of fungal, oomycete, prokaryotic, nematode, and viral plant pathogens.

Outcome 2: To develop critical thinkiong skills in analyzing disease systems; the outcome will be a demonstrated ability to formulate research questions and hypotheses for multiple plant - microbe systems.

Outcome 3: Te develop communication skills for scientific presentations; the outcome will be the design of visual tools and a combined oral and written presentation on a plant - microbe system for peer review.