Biology 398B- Topics in Plant Development William Terzaghi & Zenaida Lopez-Dee

COURSE OBJECTIVES

1. The primary objective will be to provide you with a general overview of our current understanding of plant development, with special emphasis on topics that are currently fashionable.

2. A second objective is to convey how we have reached our current understanding of plant development. In particular, I wish to convey that plant developmental biology is a rapidly evolving experimental science that is very technically oriented, and that much of our current thinking may turn out to be wrong due to poor experimental design, faulty interpretation, or totally unforeseen circumstances.

3. A third objective is to get you to think about how to study plant development. This means, how to design and interpret experiments.

4. A fourth objective is to get you to use the information you have been given in lectures and in your reading to solve problems. You will be expected to synthesize the information you are given, not just memorize it.

5. A fifth objective is to acquaint you with the primary literature and to teach you enough of the technical vocabulary to make it somewhat intelligible.

6. A final objective is to convey that plant development is fun.