SPRING SEMESTER MEDICINAL AND VALUE-ADDED USES OF PLANTS: A CHEMICAL, BIOCHEMICAL AND ETHNOBOTANICAL PERSPECTIVE (3 credits) H 401

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1 SPRING SEMESTER 2010 MEDICINAL AND VALUE-ADDED USES OF PLANTS: A CHEMICAL, BIOCHEMICAL AND ETHNOBOTANICAL PERSPECTIVE (3 credits) H 401 Class meets: Tuesdays and Thursdays PM (Shepardson 212) Instructors: Dr. Jorge M. Vivanco (j.vivanco@colostate.edu), Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, 217 Shepardson, Rationale Medicinal and Value-Added Uses of Plants: A Biochemical and Multicultural Perspective is a 3-credit course offered at the 400 level, and is designed to provide an in-depth interdisciplinary overview as well as a broad, long-term perspective on the value-added uses of plants in addition to a look at their traditional uses in food. Special emphasis will be placed on understanding the chemical and biochemical diversity of medicinal and value-added compounds in plants, and understanding their effect on humans as well as their biological role in the plant and in the environment. More than just conventional lecturing, this interdisciplinary course is supplemented with lively discussions, scientific paper readings, and invited talks by other professors. This course is designed to demonstrate the alternative uses of plants in our society with active student participation in the learning process. Course Objectives 1. To convey to the student an interdisciplinary overview of the value-added uses of plants. 2. To provide the student with an understanding of unique biochemical processes in plants. 3. To enable the student to integrate knowledge from different disciplines to study a particular biological problem. Class Outline This course is intended to go beyond the lecture-only format. Conventional lectures will be complemented with discussions, presentations, and group projects. The purpose of this course will be to promote integration of knowledge; therefore it will be targeted to senior undergraduates students with a biology/chemistry background ( level). This class will cover aspects of physiology and biochemistry that are unique to plants combined with an interdisciplinary and multicultural perspective on useful species. For example, a common staple such as the potato provides an excellent model to study the biochemistry and molecular biology associated with starch synthesis during tuberization. Additionally, other aspects of this crop will be studied, such as the Andean origin of potato, the Irish potato famine, and the significance of potato biodiversity for world food security. Finally, through invited presentations given by visiting professors the student will get a perspective on the range of cutting-edge research on medicinal and value added-uses of plants, as well as on methodology and techniques.

2 Class Participation The success of this course depends on student participation in the lectures and class discussions. This class will be taken by students from different departments and with different academic backgrounds; thus, the variety of topics presented in the class will provide a unique opportunity for students to offer valuable, diverse, and complementary input during class discussions. Therefore, students will be strongly encouraged to ask questions, participate in discussions, and help each other in the various activities. A listserve will be set up to encourage and facilitate additional discussion outside the classroom. Because of the range of subjects covered in the class, it is difficult to conduct an in-depth critical analysis of every single topic. In order to provide hands-on experience in journal-quality data analysis and class delivery, each student will be required to prepare a critical review of current refereed journal articles and books related to a topic and conduct a minute presentation on the topic. Examples of journals with appropriate articles are Economic Botany, Journal of Ethnobiology, Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Plant Physiology, Horticulture, etc. The student and the instructors will carefully select the topic to be covered by the student. The instructor and the student will meet at least two to three times prior to the student s lecture. Grading Undergraduate Students Grade Breakdown: A: points B: points C: points D: points E: below 60 points Prerequisite First exam 20% Class Presentation 20% Second Exam 20% Final Exam 20% Class Participation * 20% This is a reading-intensive and discussion-oriented course which assumes basic knowledge of biology/botany (BY 103, BZ 120, BZ CC 120) and/or chemistry (CCC 107, CCC 108, CCC 111, CCC 113 or BC 351). Students with minimal background in any of these areas are strongly encouraged to consult introductory textbooks in order to become familiar with the basic concepts and vocabulary. The following books are recommended: Buchanan, B.B., Gruissem, W., Jones, R.L Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Plants. American Society of Plant Biologists, Rockville, MD, 1367 pp. (recommended textbook) Heiser, C.B., Jr Seed to Civilization - The Story of Food. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 228 pp.

3 Hobhouse, H Seeds of Change: Five Plants that Transformed Mankind. Harper & Row, New York, 252 pp. Simpson, B.R., and M. Conner Ogorzaly Economic Botany: Plants in Our World. McGraw-Hill, New York, 640 pp. (recommended textbook). Smith, N.J.H., J.T. Williams, D.L. Plucknett, and J.P. Talbot Tropical Forests and Their Crops. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 568 pp. Sokolov, R Why We Eat What We Eat. Summit Books, New York, 254 pp. Swerdlow, J.L Nature s Medicine: Plants That Heal. National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C., 400 pp. COURSE SCHEDULE WEEK 1 Jan 19 Class introduction and overview Jan 21 The impacts of plants on civilization WEEK 2 (January 26 and 28) Jan 26 The Columbian exchange and other upheavals The international agricultural centers Jan 28 General chemistry, biochemistry and chemical ecology of plants Introduction to the different non-traditional uses of plants WEEK 3 (February 2 and February 4) Feb 2 Dr. Stephen Menke (CSU Horticulture): Grapes, wine and the culture related to wine making

4 Feb 4 Dr. Elizabeth Pilon (CSU Biology): Plants for metal remediation purposes WEEK 4 (February 9 and 11) Feb 9 Dr. Terry Opgenorth (CSU Ventures): Biopharmaceutical drug discovery and plants Feb 11 Dr. Ken Reardon (CSU Chemical Engineering): Plants for biofuels WEEK 5 (February 16 and 18) Feb 16 Dr. Terry Nett (CSU Biomedical Sciences): Using plant-derived proteins (pokeweed antiviral protein) conjugated to gonadotropin-releasing hormone for chemical sterilization of mammals Feb 18 Dr. Ajoy Sarkar (CSU Design and Merchandising): Plants for clothing WEEK 6 (February 23 and 25) Feb 23 Dr. Elizabeth Ryan (CSU Clinical Science): Phytochemical diversity of rice: a crops for health strategy Feb 25 Dr. Dean Stull (Innovative Science, LLC): Taxol and Artemisin WEEK 7 (March 2 and 4) March 2 Beyond the potato: the Andean root and tuber crops March 4 Dr. Sastry Javanmardi (CSU Horticulture): Breeding potatoes for enhanced flavor WEEK 8 (March 9 and 11) March 9 Review session

5 March 11 First Exam SPRING BREAK (March 16-18) STUDENT PRESENTATIONS BEGIN WEEK 9 PLANTS AND THE SENSES (March 23 and 25) WEEK 10 PLANTS AND THE SENSES/FERMENTATION (March 30 and April 1) WEEK 11 VALUE ADDED COMPOUNDS, PRESERVING PLANTS AND CULTURE (April 6 and April 8) WEEK 12 PLANTS AND CULTURE (April 13 and 15) WEEK 13 PLANTS AND TRADITIONAL CULTURES (April 20 and 22) WEEK 14 OTHER USES OF PLANTS (April 27 and April 29) WEEK 15 (May 4 and 6) May 4 General discussion about the future/novel uses of plants May 6 Review session. WEEK 16 May 11 Final Exam