Developing and Disseminating New Laboratories on Plant Molecular Genetics and Genomics

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Plant molecular genetic and genomic research still lag behind medically-oriented research on microbes and higher animals. As a result, relatively few lab experiences that expose students to the growing insights into plants offered by genomic biology are available at the lower college level. This CCLIproject is developing a laboratory- and Internet-based curriculum to bring students to the forefront of modern plant research. The project is based largely on data emanating from major NSF-funded plant research at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) and includes substantial input from active researchers. It builds on the Dolan DNA Learning Center's 16 years of experience developing and disseminating innovative laboratory curricula, and its experience as a publisher of Internet sites with strong multimedia content and shared use of student-generated data. A comprehensive set of laboratoriesis based on rapid and reproducible PCR chemistry developedunder a previous grant from the Advanced Technological Education Program. Using the model plant Arabidopsis and important food crops, the laboratories illustrate key concepts of gene and genome analysis, including: the relationship between phenotype and molecular genotype, genetic modification of plants and detection of transgenes in foods, and linkage and bioinformatic methods for gene mapping. Students also have the unique opportunity to explore functional genomics by assisting CSHL researchers with the cellular analysis of Arabidopsis genes of unknown function. An Internet "super site" supports the laboratories with online protocols, custom analysis tools, shared databases, and collaborative bulletin boards and chat systems.The proposal is comprised of an initial development phase, culminating in a focus workshop offaculty advisors drawn from two- and four-year colleges representing six regions of the United States.During the dissemination phase, faculty advisors will organize weeklong training workshops to reach 144 instructors. Applied Biosystems, Bio-Link National Center for Advanced Technological Training in Biotechnology, Carolina Biological Supply Company, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press are committed to provide key assistance to the project.