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Unraveling the molecular interactions between M. oryzae and rice Assessing our assessments: a look into the role assessments play in college level learning

Tate, Dominique, Tate
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1532015128204167

Abstract Details

2018, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Plant Pathology.
More than 700 million tons of rice is produced on an annual basis constituting roughly twenty-percent of all calories consumed by humans. This fact illustrates how the study of protecting and improving rice yield is acutely important to a growing world population. Outbreaks of rice blast disease, caused by the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, have led to major losses with this disease being the main limiting factor in rice production in many regions. The devastation caused by this disease has inspired the intense study of the molecular basis of the disease, including avirulence and virulence factors. By using the gene-for-gene model, many resistance (R)-genes have been identified, allowing breeders to craft rice cultivars that are resistant to many strains of the fungus. However, much is still unknown concerning the cognate avirulence (Avr) and virulence genes. This disparity is due to the lack of recognized sequence patterns of these genes. One goal of this study is to identify fungal genes that are related to M. oryzae virulence in hopes of better understanding the relationship between this hemibiotrophic pathogen and its host. M. oryzae strains KJ201 and CHNOS60-2-3 were utilized after demonstrating a difference in pathotype on the rice cultivar C101A51 Previous studies in the Mitchell lab have identified five candidate genes coding for punitive virulence factors by performing random insertion Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation (rATMT), infection assays, and TAIL-PCR. These genes were cloned into the strain CHNOS60-2-3, which is naturally compatible with the C101A51 rice. By infecting C101A51 plants with the CHNOS60-2-3 transformants, and assessing disease, we were able to determine that homoaconitase MOLYS4 is involved in virulence for M. oryzae. Learning assessments dictate the environment of our classrooms. With an ever-increasing pace of life, it is becoming more important that instructors find meaningful and efficient ways to use different assessments to better optimize student time while maintaining or improving understanding of course material. College level laboratories often fall prey to surface positivist thinking because of lengthy formative assessments in the form of lab reports and the credit hour paradox that instills false expectations of workload. Teaching research professionals developed an abbreviated version of a standard lab report for primary and secondary levels students. They were able to prove that by using the teacher and student templates of the science writing heuristic (SWH), the depth of student learning increased. It was the goal of this study to determine if the SWH could be modified for college-level courses and if a change to this form of assessment impacted the students' performance of understanding. Using Bloom's taxonomy, the student and teacher templates were modified to better suit the education level and time constraints of undergraduate learners. The study took place over four years where various assessment strategies were implemented to test if the modified SWH would be capable of maintaining the performance of understanding while simultaneously reducing workload. The resulting data indicated that the modified SWH was capable of both, which is an encouragement towards the continuing goal of optimizing coursework for learning.
Thomas Mitchell, PhD (Advisor)
Jason Slot , PhD (Committee Member)
Robert Tabita, PhD (Committee Member)
Guo-Liang Wang, PhD (Committee Member)
224 p.
Plant Pathology
virulence, Magnaporthe oryzae, Pi-2, homoaconitase, MOLYS4, assessment, science writing heuristic, deep learning

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Tate, Tate, D. (2018). Unraveling the molecular interactions between M. oryzae and rice Assessing our assessments: a look into the role assessments play in college level learning [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1532015128204167

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Tate, Tate, Dominique. Unraveling the molecular interactions between M. oryzae and rice Assessing our assessments: a look into the role assessments play in college level learning . 2018. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1532015128204167.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Tate, Tate, Dominique. "Unraveling the molecular interactions between M. oryzae and rice Assessing our assessments: a look into the role assessments play in college level learning ." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1532015128204167

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1532015128204167
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