Prerequisite: A microbiology course at 200 level or above; or permission of insructor. Restriction: Senior standing or Graduate students only.

Fruit and vegetable crops harboring enteric pathogens such as Salmonella enterica, Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and Cyclospora cause thousands of foodborne illnesses and millions of dollars in financial losses a year. Enteric bacteria, viruses and parasites use various strategies to persist in the plant niche to pose a food safety risk to consumers. This course will discuss these microbial strategies, and how enteric bacteria colonize and internalize in plants. We will also examine plant recognition of bacteria and the ensuing bacterial response in enterobacterial-plant interactions. Finally, we will explore crop microbiome studies to understand connectivity in the food production chain to understand human pathogen dissemination in crop systems.