BSCI 411
PLANT GENETICS and MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

Department of Cell Biology & Molecular Genetics
University of Maryland, College Park

PAPER ASSIGNMENT

Assignment:
 

Research one aspect of molecular biology or genetics as it pertains to plants and write a 6-10 page paper describing this area of research. Use the format of questions below to help guide you in your research and writing. I expect you to use at least one review of that field and 3-4 research papers.

This paper will be due on May 6, 2004 in class and will count for one-third  of the total grade. . I will be glad to help you with choice of topics, literature research strategies, and reviewing your paper outlines.
 

Examples of topics:
Topics may focus on certain aspects of plants that have practical applications (i.e. applied biotechnology), such as:
-improvement of food quality by changing seed storage protein
-engineering tomato fruit ripening or softening (e.g. the Flavr Savr (TM) tomato, Endless Summer (TM) tomato)
-production of medicinal or industrial proteins in plants (e.g. vaccine production, antibody production, phytase)
-modification of plants in production of secondary metabolites for insect or herbivor protection
-altering the production of secondary metabolites (e.g. alkaloids) in plants for foods or medicines (e.g. decaffinated coffee, scopalamine)
-construction of herbicide-resistant plants
-engineering insect resistance, Bt toxin
-production of plastics in plants
-population genetics in conservation of rare species

Topics may focus on basic aspects of plant biology, such as:
-regulation of flowering by light (circadian rhythm, daylength control of flowering, phototropism)
-control of motion (e.g. venus fly-trap, tendril or stem movements in vines)
- sucrose transport in plants
- heat shock proteins
- adaption to cold (e.g. winter hardening)
- genome mapping in Arabidopsis
- regulation of plant growth by hormones (e.g. auxins, cytokinins, abscisic acid)
-flower development
-DNA markers in determining plant relationships (Molecular Systematics)
-PCR amplification of fossil or mumified specimein DNA (e.g. pre-columbian maize)

Questions to be addressed in paper:   

A. Summary of the field and the main part of the paper
-what are the major questions in the field?
-what are the hypotheses concerning these major questions?
-what are the approaches being used to address these questions and test the hypotheses?
-how the results from these experiments support or disapprove the specific hypotheses?
B. Choice of model system
-why was the particular plant species chosen for study?
-what is its applicability to other systems?
C. Future directions
-what is the next logical step in the field?
-are there any aspects of the field that you think are important in the field but are not being addressed? 
-Are there any other possibilities (alternative hypotheses) that are not tested?
-how would the knowledge be useful in the future in commercial applications or overall understanding of how the plant works?
It is important to approach the review paper from an analytical point of view and hypothesis-driven rather than just providing a descriptive listing of items.  Try to show what hypotheses are there, how the researchers  tested the hypotheses, what approaches they have taken, and how the results support to disapprove the specific hypotheses.  Figures will be helpful for the readers as well.  

Literature research:
To choose topics of interest and to get an overview of an area, it is best to look through short review articles. The following journals are found in McKeldin library unless otherwise noted. Current issues are found on the first floor reading room arranged alphabetically, older issues are in the stacks under the call number. In the chemistry library, older issues are arranged alphabetically on the lower two floors.

short reviews:
Trends in biotechnology. TP248.2.T7(chemistry library)
Trends in genetics. QH426.T7 (Folio)
Trends in cell biology QH573.T74(chemistry library)
Trends in ecology & evolution. QH540.T73 (Folio)
Trends in biochemical sciences QH345.T7 (chemistry library)
Trends in Plant Science
Current opinion in cell biology QH573.C87 (chemistry library)
Current opinion in genetics & development QH426.C88 (Folio)
Genetic Engineering QH442.G454 (chemistry library)
 

Longer reviews:
Annual review of plant physiology and plant molecular biology QK711.A51
Annual review of cell and developmental biology QH573.A54 (chemistry library)
Annual review of genetics QH431.A1A54
Annual review of plant pathology (diseases)
Annual review of ecology and systematics
Current advances in genetics & molecular biology QH426.C78 (chemistry library)
 

Literature Search Engines to find primary papers and review:
Pubmed
UMCP libraries- Search on  Agricola, Basic Biosis, Agriculture and Environmental Biotechnology Abstracts, Genetics Abstracts

Journals on-line (some may require that you be at a University of Maryland Computer)
Plant Cell
Plant Physiology
Plant Cell Reports
Planta
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
Science
Journal of Agricultural Genomics

WEB sites on Plant Biology and Biotechnology to give you ideas:
BSCI 124- Plant Biology
BSCI442- Plant Physiology
PBIO485-Medicinal Plants

Topics/Abstracts from a recent meeting of the American Society for Plant Physiologists
Biotechnology Web links- Extensive site on many aspects of biotechnology in plants
Iowa State Biotechnology Links
Hort250, Purdue- Biotechnology in Agriculture
Seed and Plant Biotechnology Companies-from Purdue
Regulation of Biotechnology Iowa State University Biotechnology Information Series
Biotechnology Information Center-National Agricultural Library (USDA)
Plant WWW sites list

Genetics and Biotechnology in the News- from Yahoo
Genetically Engineered Foods in the News- from Yahoo
Vegtables in the News- from Purdue
 

Sample Papers from earlier semesters
These represent papers which explore a topic well. Note how the second paper addresses questions for which there are no current answers by folding in results from other systems.
Jay Taylor, Small Heat Shock Proteins
Magdalena Malek, Flavonoids in Camellia sinensis

Last revised: April 17,  2003- Straney and Liu