2021-2022 Academic Catalog 
    
    Mar 29, 2024  
2021-2022 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

BIOL 363 - Plant Breeding: The Past, Present, and Future of Agriculture


The food we buy in a grocery store freezer, from a fast food drive up window, and at the farmer’s market from a local vendor have a lot more in common than we might think.  Their ingredients all have an extensive history of human intervention, which took them from meager, sometimes even dangerous wild plants to worldwide dietary staples.  Through a combination of lectures, reading of primary literature, and interactive exercises, students will explore the history of plant breeding from early phenotypic selection practiced by our ancestors, to modern techniques based on genetics and genomics.  We will also discuss modern breeding technologies such as RNAi and CRISPR, their applications, limitations, governmental regulations, and societal perspectives.

Anticipated Terms Offered: Fall annually