Regulation of Plant Development

Recommended Prerequisites

General knowledge of Plant Physiology and Plant Development

Teaching Methods

Two-week intensive course with theoretical and practical classes. During the two weeks the students will grouped (3 – 5) and will develop a practical work related with one particular subject of plant embryogenesis. The results will be discussed with the professor and colleagues and, by the end of the course students will write a report about the experiments and will present and discuss their work.

Learning Outcomes

In this UC students will learn concepts/methods used to study plant hormones and signaling. The different types of hormones, the developmental pathways they control as well as the applications of the studies of plant hormones in practical subjects will be analysed. Students must have acquired skills and knowledge which will able them to understand the mechanisms of hormone action. The skills to be acquired are:

1. Understanding capacity: to be able to understand concepts related with plant hormones and to relate them with plant development and applications in areas as agriculture and biotechnology.

2. Ability to solve practical problems.

3. Communication: be able to process scientific information and to transmit it in a clear and concise way.

4. Self learning: to be autonomous in the preparation and analysis of scientific experiments. Show the capacity to interpret scientific data according to the backgrounf information available

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1. Introduction: plant hormones: nature, origin and functions. The concept hormone

2. Different types of hormones

  2.1Auxins

  2.2Cytokinins

  2.3Gibberellins

  2.4Ethylene

  2.5Abscisic acid

  2.6Brassinosteroids

2.7Other compounds as hormones

3Methods of analysis and quantification

4Model systems to analyse plant hormones

  4.1Auxins and cell elongation

  4.2Gibberellins and seed germination

  4.3Cytokinins and budding

  4.4Ethylene and tricoblast differentiation

5Cell signaling and signal transduction pathways for different plant hormones

  5.1Signal perception and amplification

  5.2Signal transmission and cell-cell communication

  5.3Two-component regulatory systems (cytokinins and ethylene)

  5.4O controlo negativo da sinalização hormonal

  5.5Protein degradation and hormonal signaling

6Practical applications of plant hormones

  6.1Plant growth

  6.2Parthenocarpy

  6.3Fruit ripening

  6.4Flowering

  6.5Water balance

  6.6Defense mechanisms

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Laboratory work or Field work: 40.0%
Exam: 60.0%

Bibliography

-Ahammed, G. L. & Yu J.-Q. 2016. Plant Hormones Under Challenging Environmental Factors. Springer, Berlin.

-Buchanan, B.B., Gruissem, W. & Jones, R.L., 2015. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Plants. Amer. Soc. Plant Physiol., Rockville (2nd ed).

-Davies, P.J., 2013. Plant Hormones – Biosynthesis, Signal Transduction, Action! Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht (3rd ed).

-Taiz, L. Zeiger, E., Moller I. M. & Murphy A. 2015. Plant Physiology (6th ed.). Sinauer Associates, Inc., Publishers, Sunderland.

-Encyclopedia of Life Sciences (artigos disponíveis on line)

-Artigos científicos disponíveis online em revistas da especialidade