Professor Sharon Lafferty Doty

Plant Microbiology Seminar (SEFS 522 & ESRM 422)

2 credits (CR/NC)

ESRM 422 SEFS 522 Plant Microbiology Seminar 2024

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, students will learn about the spectrum of plant-microbe interactions.  In addition, students will conduct a literature review of a plant microbiology topic of their choosing, and write a short (1.5-2 pg) review.  Alternatively, graduate students doing research in plant microbiology can give a short seminar instead (on Feb 27).

8:30-9:20AM on Tuesdays (also available via live Zoom)

Syllabus and draft topics:

Jan 9- Prof. Sunshine Van Bael (Tulane University) – Tropical and/or coastal endophytes

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

Jan 23- Prof. Tom DeLuca (OSU) – Endophytic nitrogen fixation in non-nodulating plants on a glacial foreland

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- Morgan Raimondo (UW) “Endophytes for increasing resilience to climate change” – grad student #1

Mar 7- Dr. Robert Tournay (UW) – Bioinformatics and the plant microbiome

In case a speaker is unavailable, I’ll fill in – Prof. Sharon Doty (UW) on “The power of the plant microbiome”

Evaluation for Credit

EVALUATION FOR CREDIT

The students will prepare an outreach paper on an approved plant microbiology topic (1-2 pgs) for potential use in educational outreach for the International Symbiosis Society.  In addition, students will be expected to participate in the seminar discussions and be prepared for class discussions by completing weekly related readings prior to class.  Attendance (in person or via Zoom) is required.

Attendance and Participation (CoEnv statement): This course is designed to maximize your learning of the subject matter. Therefore, our attendance policy is aimed at supporting our educational goals.

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/).