Of maize and men or peas and people: the value of plants as model systems in molecular biology

Wednesday 2 December 2009, 12.15PM

Speaker: Professor Sir David Baulcombe FRS, University of Cambridge

There are many examples of fundamental discoveries in biology that were made first in plants. Hooke’s first description of cells, Mendels laws of genetics and McClintock’s transposable elements of DNA are particularly notable examples. More recently a class of small regulatory RNA that is common to many eukaryotes was first discovered in plants. These small RNAs have been referred to as the dark matter of genetics because they are abundant and recently discovered. Some of these small RNAs are negative regulators of gene expression  whereas others participate in more complex regulatory effects or as part of an RNA signal that moves between cells. I will describe how discovery of these small RNAs has opened up new opportunities for the treatment and diagnosis of disease in people and in animals and for improvement of crop plants.

This lecture is the first in this term's York Biology Lecture series.  Other lectures in the series are:

Learning lessons is hard; making predictions difficult

Climate change and biology: Is the land biosphere about to turn against us?

The York Biology Lecture series is supported by the University of York Distinguished Visitors Fund and the Department of Biology.

Location: Room P/X001, Physics

Admission: Admission is free and open to all

Email: publiclectures@york.ac.uk

Telephone: 01904 432622