Molecular breeding and plant genetics

Genetic improvement of cultivated plants is the most viable approach to fostering sustainable agriculture in the future. The main goal of the course is to supply the students with knowledge about tools and strategies used in breeding programs, combining quantitative genetics and biotechnology to identify the genomic regions containing genes of interest. The effects of domestication and breeding on the genome of crops will be presented to have a wider overview about the challenges that modern breeding has to face.
The course is ideally linked to those dealing with Advanced molecular and cellular biotechnology and Functional genomics and bioinformatics.

After following this course, the students will have basic knowledge of the most recent molecular breeding approaches. They will be familiar with the available technologies to produce molecular markers and their application to linkage map construction, QTL mapping and in general to plant breeding. They will be familiar with the pros and cons of alternative strategies available to identify the genetic determinant controlling agronomic traits. Students will be able to evaluate the advantages and limitations of the different breeding strategies and select the most appropriate for specific goals.