Molecular Plant Pathology is one of the independent disciplines and majors authorized by our school in 2003, and it is also one of the majors with the qualification of enrolling master's and doctoral students.

Molecular plant pathology is a young branch of traditional botany, and it is a new discipline produced by the continuous cross-infiltration of modern molecular biology and plant pathology. After many years' efforts, great progress has been made in molecular disease-resistant breeding under the specialty of crop genetics and breeding in our school, such as cloning and identification of disease-resistant genes and pathogen-related genes in tropical crops, functional genomics of plant pathogen pathogenicity, functional genomics of plant disease resistance, signal transduction in plant-pathogen interaction and so on. The research results have important theoretical significance for crop genetic breeding, sustainable utilization of disease-resistant varieties and development of new pollution-free fungicides. At present, the research direction has developed and derived an independent and complete discipline system of molecular plant pathology, which has attracted the attention of the same field and has broad development prospects.

The research work and personnel training of molecular plant pathology in our school are mainly carried out in the State Key Laboratory of Tropical Crop Biotechnology and the Key Laboratory of Plant Protection. Over the years, doctoral students and master students have been recruited in the disciplines of crop genetics and plant pathology, and high-quality innovative talents engaged in molecular plant pathology teaching and research have been trained, which has been recognized by employers. With the further development of hot farming and the rise of pollution-free agriculture in China, it has become an indispensable research field in Hainan's ecological construction to study the occurrence mechanism of tropical crop diseases at the molecular level, clarify the molecular basis of host-pathogen interaction in the course of plant diseases, understand the gene structure, expression and regulation mechanism related to host and course of diseases, and provide theoretical basis and the best way for sustainable control of plant diseases, thus determining that the demand for high-level talents in molecular plant pathology will continue to expand. The establishment and development of molecular plant pathology can not only fill the blank of molecular plant pathology research of tropical crops in China, but also contribute to the rapid development of hot farming in China.

Training objectives:

1. Ph.D. has a solid basic theory of molecular plant pathology and a wide range of basic knowledge of plant pathology, microbiology, plant physiology and biochemistry, molecular biology, plant genetic engineering and so on. In-depth understanding of the history, present situation and latest development trend of the research field; Proficient in experimental skills and computer application technology related to molecular plant pathology; Master at least one foreign language, read the foreign language materials of this major skillfully, and have certain writing ability and the ability to conduct international academic exchanges; Able to independently undertake scientific research and teaching related to molecular plant pathology; The paper is obviously innovative and has important theoretical significance or application value, and can be published in high-level magazines.

2. Master's degree to master the basic theory of molecular plant pathology and related basic knowledge of plant pathology, microbiology, plant physiology and biochemistry, molecular biology and plant genetic engineering; Understand the present situation and development trend of molecular plant pathology; Proficient in a foreign language, able to read the foreign language materials of this major, and initially have the ability to independently engage in molecular plant pathology research and teaching; Dissertations should be innovative and can be published in higher-level magazines.

The research scope of this subject is to apply modern molecular biology methods and techniques to study the occurrence mechanism of plant diseases at the molecular level, clarify the molecular basis of host-pathogen interaction in the course of plant diseases, understand the structure, expression and regulation mechanism of disease-related genes, and provide theoretical basis and the best way for sustainable control of plant diseases.

The main research directions include: plant disease resistance functional genome research, plant pathogen pathogenic genome research, signal transduction and gene expression regulation in plant-pathogen interaction.

Courses include molecular plant pathology, molecular biology, molecular genetics, plant immunology, genomics, advances in plant pathology, genetic engineering experiments, signal transduction in higher plants and advanced crop breeding.