Professor Sharon Lafferty Doty

Plant Microbiology Seminar ESRM 422 / SEFS 522

2 credits (CR/NC)

Course Description:

Microbes are often essential for plant growth, providing nutrients, pathogen resistance, and increased tolerance to stress. Other microbes can cause plant diseases.  Through weekly seminars and assigned readings, students will learn about the spectrum of plant microbe interactions.  In addition, students will conduct a literature review of a plant microbiology topic and write a short (2pg) review.

Learning Objectives:

The educational goals of this course are:

• To increase awareness of the variety of symbiotic relationships between plants and microbes, from pathogenic to mutualistic
• To provide examples of plant-microbe interactions of local relevance from those conducting the research
• To guide students in how to research a topic and write a short review paper, synthesizing a summary based on reading the primary literature.  Selected papers will be incorporated into the website for the International Symbiosis Society for which Professor Doty serves as the vice president focusing on education/outreach.

 

DRAFT Syllabus  – Winter 2024 (Tuesdays at 8:30 AM)

Jan 2- Prof. Sharon Doty (UW) on “The power of the plant microbiome”

Jan 9- Prof. Tom DeLuca (OSU) – Endophytic nitrogen fixation in non-nodulating plants on a glacial foreland

Jan 16- Prof. Claire Willing (UW) on fungal partners in the redwoods

Jan 23- TBD

Jan 30- Dr. Regina Redman on “Plant-fungal symbiosis as a mechanism for plant survival to environmental stresses”

Feb 6- Dr. Jayde Aufrecht (Pacific Northwest National Labs) on Elucidating the molecular mechanisms of aerobic endophytic N-fixation

Feb 13- Dr. Korena Mafune (UW) on the Rainforest Canopy Microbiome

Feb 20- Dr. Patricia Okubara (WSU) on “Biocontrol in the Vineyards”

Feb 27- TBD – Dr. Robert Tournay (UW) – topic TBD

Mar 7- Morgan Raimondo (UW) “Endophytes for increasing resilience to climate change” – grad student

 

EVALUATION FOR CREDIT for ESRM 422

The students will conduct a primary scientific literature review of an approved plant microbiology topic, and write a short review paper.  This will be 50% of the grade.  In addition, students will be expected to participate in the seminar discussions and be prepared by completing weekly related readings and answering questions about the readings via Canvas prior to class (50%).

Attendance and Participation: This course is designed to maximize your learning of the subject matter. Therefore, our attendance policy is aimed at supporting our educational goals.  Assignments are designed to help you prepare for class (e.g. online quizzes due before class) will not be accepted after the due date and time.  There will be a sign-in sheet for attendance.

 Example readings: A review paper on the week’s seminar topic will be provided via Canvas prior to the seminar.   

Disability Accommodations

To request academic accommodations due to a disability, contact:

Disability Resources for Students
011 Mary Gates Hall

uwdrs@uw.edu
206-543-8924 (V/TTY)

 

Academic Conduct

At the University level, passing anyone else’s scholarly work (which can include written material, exam answers, graphics or other images, and even ideas) as your own, without proper attribution, is considered academic misconduct.  However, for this course, it is not acceptable to copy and paste from a source, even when properly attributed, as it defeats the purpose of the assignment of researching and learning about the topic.  When you submit the writing assignment, note your VeriCite score.  If it is flagged as potential plagiarism (25% or higher), rewrite the flagged sections in your own words.  Plagiarism, cheating, and other misconduct are serious violations of the University of Washington Student Conduct Code (WAC 478‐120). We expect that you will know and follow university policies on cheating and plagiarism. Any suspected cases of academic misconduct will be handled according to university regulations. For more information, see the College of the Environment’s Academic Misconduct Policy and the Community Standards and Student Conduct website.

Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy (https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodations-policy/). Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form (https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request/).