Food & Genes

Life is specified by genomes. Every organism, including the crops that produce our daily foods, has a genome that contains all the biological information—the DNA—needed to build and maintain a living example of that organism. The biological information contained in the DNA is divided into genes, discrete units of the genome. The complete set of genes represents the genetic constitution that makes up the genotype of an organism. Crops often have complex genomes to achieve desired agronomic traits. Yet, crop genomes often exhibit specified genetic diversity to maintain desired agronomic traits. This makes crops vulnerable to infection by co-evolving pests and pathogens and poses ongoing challenges in modern crop breeding to keep up with demands from an increasing world population.

This aim of this seminar is to develop an understanding of the unique genetic makeup of our foods and co-evolving pests and pathogens. Evaluating the origin of modern cops and the way they have been bred over centuries to perform best for productivity, human-desired traits, and resistance to environmental stress will be used to gain knowledge on genome architecture and genes regulating agronomic traits. This will be complemented by looking at the genetic diversity present in crops, and evaluating the genomes of co-evolving pests and pathogens to recognise the challenges in food security. A basis for this seminar are the lectures "Genomes" and "Forward and Reverse Genetics".

The seminar requires that students (groups of two) select one topic and present it to all students in the form of an oral presentation and moderate the subsequent discussion. Initial key literature will be provided but should be expanded in critical aspects. Each presentation should not last longer than 40 min (2x 20 min). To keep to the time is a fundamental quality criterion. Presenters must prepare two scientific questions related to your topic to initiate and guide the scientific discussion. The week before your presentation you must discuss your presentation file for advice at the end of the seminar. 

The provided literature must be read by all participants. All students have to be prepared for each seminar with at least two questions related to the topic and contribute to the discussion.

Credits depend on regular and timely attendance to the seminar and active participation is required! Your presentation and your participation in the seminar will be marked! The presentation will be assessed by formal criteria (slide design, structural requirements), by contents (depth and breadth of knowledge), and by presentation style (speech, interaction with the audience). You can download the grading system here.

The seminar will start with an introduction to the overall theme Food & Genes, and for students to select their topic of choice. A guide how to search and read literature, and how to present a seminar will be given in the following seminar. Two papers will be provided for each topic to guide your seminar preparation.

You can download the presenter topics with each two suggested publications here.

3 ECTS points = 90 hrs

Preparation for seminars: 3,0 h (x 10 = 30 h) + 3,0 = 32
Seminar: 1,5 h (x14 =  21 h)
Preparation of presentation: 36 h

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