Department of Plant Biology and Biotechnology | |||||||||||||
Earliest Possible Year | MSc. 1 year | ||||||||||||
Duration | One block | ||||||||||||
Credits | 7.5 (ECTS) | ||||||||||||
Course Level | MSc | ||||||||||||
Examination | Final Examination written examination Written Exam in Lecturehall All aids allowed Description of Examination: 4 hour written examination based on curriculum from textbook and scientific articles presented during the course. Weight: 100% 7-point scale, internal examiner Dates of Exam: 29 October 2009 | ||||||||||||
Organisation of Teaching | Lectures and journal clubs | ||||||||||||
Block Placement | Block 1 Week Structure: C | ||||||||||||
Teaching Language | English | ||||||||||||
Optional Prerequisites | 240042 Thematic Course: Experimental Molecular Biology Tema: Eksperimental Molecular Biologi or similar course. | ||||||||||||
Restrictions | None | ||||||||||||
Course Contents | |||||||||||||
Frontiers of international research in plant science will be elucidated with newest scientific literature and related to the text book knowledge. Examples of selected topics are: 1. Photosynthesis and its regulation How do the photosystems of plants respond to different light conditions (intensity, wavelength, duration) and to changes in other environmental factors? 2. Regulation of carbohydrate metabolism How is whole plant growth tuned by the key steps of carbohydrate metabolism on the cellular level? 3. Molecular physiology of mineral nutrient acquisition, transport and utilization Plants use a wide range of mechanisms and responses to acquire essential mineral nutrients from the soil. How are these mechanisms working together? 4. How do plants store and sense nutrients? How can we reduce the footprint of agricultural production on the environment? 5. Plant hormones: Signal perception and transduction Phytohormones can initiate a wide range of contrasting responses. How can different stimuli give rise to different responses all use the same messenger? 6. Responses to abiotic stresses Progress in understanding plant responses to stress has been impressive. The problem of how plant homeostasis is maintained in a changing environment still raises many new questions. 7. Reproductive development The onset of flowering represents a major developmental shift in the plant life cycle and a myriad of genes control this developmental process. 8. Plant cell polymers and cell wall elongation The plant cell wall is not a dead coat. Recent research shows that it is a complex and dynamic entitity controlling many vital plant processes. | |||||||||||||
Teaching And Learning Methods | |||||||||||||
Lectures and discussions based on a modern comprehensive textbook supplemented with recent articles from the scientific literature and case studies. The presentations based on recent scientific papers will demonstrate how important molecular biological methods are being used to solve current scientific problems. | |||||||||||||
Learning Outcome | |||||||||||||
The aim of the course is to give the student a thorough knowledge of important research topics within modern plant biology. The course will illustrate how novel technologies within plant biochemistry and physiology are used to produce coherent knowledge of complex biological systems which previously were diffucult to understand. The use of the new knowledge in designing crop plants for the future using classical breeding in combination with genetic engineeering will be discussed. After completion of the course the student should be able to: Knowledge: - describe the a frontiers of international research in plant science within a range of core areas. - identify molecular methods and approaches which can be used to solve specific problems within plant biology. Skills: - interpret the results persented in scientific articles and take a critical and creative standpoint to the presented scientific problems. - use basic knowledge from other disciplines in an integrated manner when analysing current problems in plant biology. - discuss ethical problems related to the latest developments in plant science. Competences: - evaluate critically the limits and possibilities of new theories and the solidity of experimental evidence. - transfer theories and principles from advanced state-of-the-art molecular plant biology to solve new questions posed by the research community, industry and the society. | |||||||||||||
Course Litterature | |||||||||||||
15-20 scientific papers will be part of curriculum Basic text book suggestion: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Plants Buchanan BB, Gruissem W, Jones RL American Society of Plant Physiologists, 2000 The final choise of textbook will be announced a week before the corse starts. | |||||||||||||
Course Coordinator | |||||||||||||
Birger Lindberg Møller, blm@life.ku.dk, Department of Plant Biology and Biotechnology/Plant Biochemistry Laboratory, Phone: 35333352 Michael Gjedde Palmgren, palmgren@life.ku.dk, Department of Plant Biology and Biotechnology/Plant Physiology and Anatomy Laboratory, Phone: 35332592 | |||||||||||||
Study Board | |||||||||||||
Study Committee NSN | |||||||||||||
Course Scope | |||||||||||||
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