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Plant Biology

Explore the rich world of plants through molecular, cell, and evolutionary biology, biochemistry, biophysics, genetics and functional genomics, physiology, and root biology

Program Overview

Plants are fundamental to life on earth. Plant biologists use these important organisms to address issues such as global climate change, food insecurity, loss of biodiversity, and disease. The Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Plant Biology offers students the opportunity to conduct research on plants—ranging from the cellular level to the whole-plant level.

Students' program of study includes a comprehensive set of team-taught courses that reflect the breadth of scientific fields, and the linkages between them. All students must also complete a thesis based on their own original research.

Program Ranking

The Plant Biology program was ranked among the top-four programs of its kind (out of 118 programs) by the latest National Research Council Assessment of Research Doctorate Programs, which took place in 2006. The study was based on 20 different characteristics related to research activity of faculty members, student support and outcomes, and the diversity of the academic environment.

Faculty and Research Areas

Seminars

Symposia

News

Researchers compile Cacao Gene Atlas to help plant breeders boost chocolate tree

A team led by researchers at Penn State has created a genetic information resource to help plant breeders develop resistant strains of cacao that can be grown sustainably in its native Amazon and elsewhere, such as the tropical latitudes of Central and South America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.

New tomato, potato family tree shows that fruit color and size evolved together

Fruits of Solanum plants, a group in the nightshade family, are incredibly diverse, ranging from sizable red tomatoes and purple eggplants to the poisonous green berries on potato plants. A new and improved family tree of this group, produced by an international team led by researchers at Penn State, helps explain the striking diversity of fruit colors and sizes and how they might have evolved.

Why is breaking down plant material for biofuels so slow?

Breaking down cellulose for biofuel is slow and inefficient but could avoid concerns around using a food source while taking advantage of abundant plant materials that might otherwise go to waste. New research led by Penn State investigators has revealed how several molecular roadblocks slow this process.

News

Researchers compile Cacao Gene Atlas to help plant breeders boost chocolate tree

A team led by researchers at Penn State has created a genetic information resource to help plant breeders develop resistant strains of cacao that can be grown sustainably in its native Amazon and elsewhere, such as the tropical latitudes of Central and South America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.

New tomato, potato family tree shows that fruit color and size evolved together

Fruits of Solanum plants, a group in the nightshade family, are incredibly diverse, ranging from sizable red tomatoes and purple eggplants to the poisonous green berries on potato plants. A new and improved family tree of this group, produced by an international team led by researchers at Penn State, helps explain the striking diversity of fruit colors and sizes and how they might have evolved.

Why is breaking down plant material for biofuels so slow?

Breaking down cellulose for biofuel is slow and inefficient but could avoid concerns around using a food source while taking advantage of abundant plant materials that might otherwise go to waste. New research led by Penn State investigators has revealed how several molecular roadblocks slow this process.

New sunflower family tree reveals multiple origins of flower symmetry

The sunflower family tree revealed that flower symmetry evolved multiple times independently, a process called convergent evolution, among the members of this large plant family, according to a new analysis.