Short Course in Plant Molecular Systematics

[Cymon Cox]

>An Advanced Short Course in Plant Molecular Systematics at the University
>of Reading, England, U.K.
>
>16-25 June 1998
>
>This unique course, sponsored by NERC, provides in depth coverage of the
>latest techniques in plant molecular systematics and comparative sequence
>analysis.  The treatment of theoretical issues in formal lectures is
>coupled with a major, hands-on, practical component that concentrates on:
>1) Practical DNA extraction from plants, PCR amplification and sequencing.
>Particular emphasis is placed on problems peculiar to plants and those
>associated with difficult material (e.g. herbarium specimens).
>Participants are strongly encouraged to bring a sample of their own plant
>material since opportunities will be provided to solve individual problems.
>2) Skills in computer-assisted sequence assembly, manipulation, alignment,
>and comparative analysis.
>3) Phylogeny reconstruction using state-of-the-art computational techniques
>under parsimony, likelihood, and distance criteria.  Special attention is
>paid to features of plant biology (e.g. introgression, plastid vs. nuclear
>modes of inheritance) relevant to phylogeny reconstruction.
>
>Participants are expected to use the full range of methodologies to
>complete a small project that will be presented to the class on the final
>day of the course.
>
>
>The Plant Systematics Research Group in the School of Plant Sciences is one
>of three UK centres for the NERC taxonomy initiative.  In addition to the
>NERC-sponsored short courses, the group undertakes advanced research in
>molecular systematics, conservation genetics and biodiversity informatics.
>
>For more information on the course contact Dr. Terry A. Hedderson
>(t.a.j.hedderson at reading.ac.uk) or visit our website:
>http://www.reading.ac.uk/AcaDepts/sb/Courses/courses-short.html
>
>Terry A. Hedderson
>Dept. of Botany
>School of Plant Sciences
>The University
>Reading, Berkshire
>England, RG6 6AS
>
>t.a.j.hedderson at reading.ac.uk
>
>Tel. +44 1189 9875123 ext. 4085
>Fax  +44 1189 9753676
>