Agricultural Genetics

Agricultural Genetics is the study of genetics, molecular biology and biotechnology as they apply to the plant and animal species of agriculture, as well as other organisms that impact on these by being weeds, pests, pathogens, or beneficial organisms.

Agricultural geneticists work in a wide range of positions in both public and private enterprise. They are plant breeders, developing new improved cultivars of crop, horticultural and ornamental plants, and animal breeders, improving the productivity of the animal industries by selection of superior parents for breeding.

In the plant area, they are involved in the production and identification of new germplasm with useful characteristics, the isolation and analysis of plant genes by molecular cloning, the production and characterisation of transgenic plants with new traits, and in the genetic analysis of plant characteristics using both classical and molecular mapping techniques.

In the animal area, they are involved in development and running of breeding programs to improve animal productivity, such as dairy herd improvement programs or Lambplan. The molecular mapping and eventually cloning and characterisation of genes influencing economically important traits like growth, leanness and tenderness of meat, or wool quality also are important tasks addressed by animal geneticists. Others are involved in transgenic manipulations, such as making transgenic animals expressing human pharmaceutical proteins. It is a small step from animal genetics to human genetics and some people trained as animal geneticists eventually find careers in human genetics.

Graduates of the Bachelor of Science in Agriculture are ideally placed to get involved in the development and application of forensic technologies to agriculture. There are several laboratories in Australia, for example, that apply DNA forensic technologies (DNA fingerprinting) to check pedigrees of stud animals (mainly horses, cattle, and dogs) and in the next few years, there will be expanding use of the same technology for determining parentage in situations where several males mate with many females, such as in the sheep industry.

You can specialise in Agricultural Genetics in the Bachelor of Science in Agriculture degree. You can also complete a major thesis in Agricultural Genetics in the Bachelor of Horticultural Science.

What Will You Study?

First Year
There are no first year units of study in Agricultural Genetics. All students will do the first year core BScAgr subjects.

Second Year
The study of Agricultural Genetics begins in second year when you will study the basic areas of transmission genetics, pedigree analysis, cytogenetics, population genetics, quantitative genetics, molecular genetics, and plant and animal biotechnology. All areas are illustrated with agricultural examples, to relate the theory to practice.

Third Year
There is no specific agricultural genetics unit of study in this year. Students are encouraged to undertake the third year Biotechnology subjects offered. Students planning to go into plant agricultural genetics should study plant pathology, agronomy, horticulture and/or agricultural chemistry topics, while those interested in animal agricultural genetics should study animal science.

Fourth Year
In fourth year you will study more specialised material in depth. Options in cytogenetics, plant breeding, population genetics and animal improvement, plant genetic engineering and animal genetics are available, as well as the possibility of undertaking advanced units of study from the School of Biological Sciences. A significant research project is undertaken.

Further Studies
If you are interested in undertaking further research in agricultural genetics you can undertake a Masters or PhD.

On the plant side, Sydney University has the Plant Breeding Institute, located at two locations, Camden and Narrabri. Research involves cereal, grain legume and ornamental species cultivar development, cereal biochemistry, the genetics of cereal rust disease resistance (including the National Cereal Rust Control Program), plant tissue culture, and cereal molecular genetics involving cereal gene cloning and molecular mapping.

On the animal side, the Animal Science group in the Faculty of Veterinary Science has strong programs of research in pig, sheep and mouse gene mapping, porcine biodiversity, porcine endogenous retroviruses, gene therapy for inherited neurological disorders, studies of inherited disorders in sheep and cattle, including maintenance of the internationally renowned catalogue of inherited abnormalities, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals, and a model system for inherited susceptibility to skin cancer. A newly formed Centre for Advanced Technologies in Animal Genetics and Reproduction to be known as ReproGen, involving staff from Animal Science and Veterinary Clinical Sciences, will be the Australian focal point for research, training, development and commercialisation of integrated technologies for animal breeding, harnessing the practical outcomes of molecular and quantitative genetics, somatic cell biology, and reproductive biology for the benefit of Australian livestock industries.