SUBJECT

Plant biology

lecture

master

Faculty of Science

Biology MSc

3

Semester 1

Autumn semester

1. Individual properties of plant life form (autotrophy, acclimation and adaptation, defense mechanisms, specificities of water uptake and mineral nutrition). C, N and S autotrophy, significance of plant production in the whole biosphere.

2. Photosynthesis from ecophysiological point of view PAR, PPFD, correlations between energy utilization and photosynthetic characteristics, energy dissipation , xanthophyll cycle, photoinhibition. Light-dependent reactions on cell, organ and organism level.

3. Ecophysiological aspects of photosynthetic gas exchange (O2 evolution, CO2 fixation). Effect of elevated CO2 level on the photosynthetic production. Role of isoprenoid synthesis and methane emission.

4. Acclimation of plants to the environmental changes. Stress tolerance. Sensing of stressors, signal transduction network, responses on levels of gene expression and metabolism.

5. Specific metabolic reactions/responses on abiotic and biotic stressors. Synthesis of special metabolites and their role in protective and acclimation reactions.

6. Hormonal ground of the stress response, local and systemic resistance. Jasmonates, abscisic acid, salycilic acid, peptide hormones.

7. Volatile compounds produced by plants (ethylene, methyl salycilic acid, methyl jasmonic acid, etc) as tools of the communication between plants.

8. Pharmacobotanical significance and nutritive or therapeutical role of special plant metabolites (alkaloids, fenoloids, special polyketides and terpenoids) Their effects on other living organisms.

9. Special plant nutrients in seeds, fruits and crops. Possibilities and efforts on improvement of secondary metabolite production, defense mechanisms and phytoremediation capacity of plants by modification of plant genomes.

10. Water uptake and transpiration, characteristics of ion uptake and transport, ionomics, ecophysiological aspects.

11. Special characteristics of plant hormones, mechanism of hormone actions compared to animal hormones. Endogenous and exogenous hormone levels. Biotests. Signal amplification, second messengers, plant regulatory compounds.Types of plant hormones.

12. Receptors in plant regulation, G-proteins, signal tarnsduction pathways in plants, two-component system histidine kinases.

13. Hormonal regulation of plant ontogenesis, growth and development. Auxins, gibberellins, brassinosteroids. Apical dominancy, geotropism.

14. Regulation of differentiation, sex determination, crosstalk of plant hormones.

15. Plant cell cycle. Role of hormones in phase transition. Disturbances in cell cycle, tumors.

• Taiz L., Zeiger E. (eds.) Plant Physiology, 5th Edition Sinauer Associates Inc. Publ., Sunderland, Mass., USA, (2010)