PLSCI 7420

Genotypes to Phenotypes: The Evolution of Genetic Modeling in Plant Breeding

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

The goal of this journal-club course is to review historic and current literature related to the application of quantitative genetics in modern biology and its application in plant breeding. The format of the course will be a discussion of two landmark papers per session, each presented by a student and guided by study questions. The topics to be discussed include: advances in genomic technologies and their impact on the study of simple and complex traits, quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping, linkage disequilibrium and Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS), impacts of population structure and genetic architecture on genetic modeling decisions and breeding strategies, long term versus short term genetic gain and extracting signal from noisy data.

Last 4 terms offered (None)

Outcomes REF-FA25

• Interpret quantitative genetics research with substantial mathematical and statistical components.
• Effectively present research findings from landmark papers in quantitative genetics theory.
• Describe the impacts of quantitative genetics theory in shaping modern plant breeding and genetics research.
• Demonstrate critical thinking of how to apply quantitative genetics theory to solving novel or emerging breeding problems.

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