This course will examine mineral nutrition of plants from the molecular and cellular level to the organismal and environmental levels, with lectures by two UW Faculty who view the subject from the inside out (ES) and from the outside in (PB). This course is offered in the Fall semester of even years.

The class will discuss techniques for measuring ion transport and some of the underlying theory, including an introduction to the thermodynamic principles governing the transport of water and ions. Now that plant genes encoding NO₃^-, K⁺, H⁺, and Na⁺ transporters have been cloned and proteins responsible for the uptake of nitrate and sulphate by plant cells have been identified, some discussions will be of molecular-level details.

The subject matter also includes methods of plant analysis, the geochemistry of plant composition, essential/beneficial and macro/micronutrient elements and their functions, solution culture techniques (hydroponics and aeroponics), nutrient interactions, genetics of plant nutrition, plant-microbe interactions related to nutrient availability, principles and modelling of nutrient transport in soil, and rhizosphere chemistry.

Topics may vary to meet specific student interests, such as:

• Have the high-affinity and low-affinity K transport mechanisms in plant membranes, theorized to exist in the early '60s, been correctly identified in the '90s?
• Metal speciation and metal buffering in nutrient solutions --how do you buffer micromolar concentrations?
• Molecular mechanisms by which particular nutrients are taken up by plants
• Strategies for coping with micronutrient deficiencies --from phytosiderophores to fertilizing the ocean with iron to increase biomass and influence global climate
• Calcium deficiencies in phloem-fed plant organs --causes and cures(?)
• Metal hyperaccumulator plants from serpentine barrens --prospects as heavy metal phytoremediators at SuperFund sites
• Nitrate vs. ammonium nutrition --relationship of molecular machinery to soil environments
• The rhizosphere as the product of plant nutrient uptake and plant exudation
• Modelling movement of nutrients to plant roots --from single ion transport to multiple ion transport with irreversible thermodynamics

Registration: This course is intended for graduate and advanced undergraduate students in the plant and soil sciences, with a target audience drawn from agronomy, botany, forestry, horticulture, and soils. The formal prerequisite (Bot350) will be waived by the instructors for interested students with prior coursework and background in soil and/or plant sciences. This course is crosslisted among three Departments--SoilScience, Botany, and Horticulture. Registration will be limited to 20.

Grades: During the course, students will be asked to write two five-page paper on topics chosen in consultation with the instructors and make brief presentations to the class. The final grade will be based on the papers, the presentations, and a homework assignment.

Questions should be directed to the instructors: Phillip Barak (tel: 263-5450 or barak@facstaff.wisc.edu) or Edgar Spalding (tel: 265-5294/5 or spalding@facstaff.wisc.edu).

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This page was last modified by Phillip Barak, Univ. of Wisconsin, on 13 May 2003. All rights reserved.