About the course

CROP MOLECUALR BREEDING is an elective course for PhD or master students in the fields of plant breeding or related majors in Nanjing Agricultural University (NAU). The course has been opened in fall semester of each year since 2014. The course includes 30 hours for lecture, 2 hours for discussion and 2 hours for final examination.

This course emphasizes the breeding technologies of molecular-assisted selection and gene transfer on the basis of traditional breeding methods such as pedigree method, bulk plot method, heterosis breeding method, etc.). The contents of germplasm collection, management, evaluation, innovation and utilization, genotype-by-environment interaction, and plant variety protection were also included. The 15 chapters included in this course are: 1. Introduction; 2. Molecular Breeding Tools--Markers and Maps; 3. Molecular Breeding Tools--Omics and Arrays; 4. Population in Genetics and Breeding; 5. Plant Genetic Resources: Management, Evaluation and Enhancement; 6. Molecular Dissection of Complex Traits--Theory; 7.Molecular Dissection of Complex Traits--Practice; 8. Marker-assisted Selection--Theory; 9. Marker-assisted Selection--Practice; 10. Genotype-by-environment Interaction; 11. Isolation and Functional Analysis of Genes; 12. Gene transfer and Genetically Modified Plants; 13. Intellectual Property Rights and Plant Variety Protection; 14. Breeding Informatics; 15. Decision Support Tools. Students will learn how to apply breeding techniques to a specific trait or species and know what is new in research realms of crop breeding. Besides lectures from instructors, students will be required to take seminar, where students positively prepare and present their original written work associated with some research hot spots for discussion.

About the teachers

Professor Delin Hong, Professor Yuanxin Yan and Professor Linglong Liu are the three lecturers for the course.

Professor Delin Hong, received his doctorate degree in 1988 at NAU, has been engaged in the teaching of crop breeding course and basic research on utilization of rice heterosis for 32 years. He has more than 5-year work experience as a senior visiting scholar and visiting professor at Kagawa University and Kyushu University, Japan. He was honored as “Famous teachers in Jiangsu Province” in 2016.

Professor Yuanxin Yan, received his doctorate degree in 2002 at Peking University, has been engaged in the teaching of crop molecular breeding and basic research on maize. He has more than 10-year work experience as postdoctoral fellow and research associate in University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and Texas A&M University, USA.

Professor Linglong Liu, received his doctorate degree in 2005 at NAU, has been engaged in the teaching of crop molecular breeding and basic research on rice. He has worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Oklahoma State University from 2010 to 2013.

All materials are contributed by Nanjing Agricultural University.