Plant Biology Skills
Full course description
Nowadays our society demands novel, sustainable and nutritious food sources to feed the increasing human population. A potential solution can be found by plant cell cultures due to their possibilities as sources of food, proteins, energy and fiber. Plant cell tissue culture is considered as a key factor in the ‘second green agricultural revolution’ due to the fact that crop yield and quality are modulated by biotechnological approaches. Plant cell tissue culture combine the biotechnological possibilities of creating new varieties by gene editing in a shorter period of time than traditional breeding techniques in order to solve problems of crop improvement such as disease resistances. Therefore, considering a closed-loop system perspective of recycling plant materials, a sustainable plant biotechnology approach can be found. With the techniques learned in this skill course, you will be able to acquire fundamentals of plant functioning to be applied in a biotechnology and sustainable context.
Course objectives
At the end of this course, we expect you to be able to:
- Identify plant organs and tissues and understand their structure-function relationship
- Manipulate and isolate protoplasts from different plant tissues for different purposes while following complex laboratory protocols
- Understand how small plants (plantlets) can grow under different medium requirements from different types of protoplasts by using diverse laboratory protocols
- Explain the agronomic purpose of propagating and genetically manipulating plants by to a scientific audience
- Provide examples of how plant cell cultures can contribute to the circular economy and agriculture
Recommended reading
Mandatory:
The following concepts from the Biotechnology course (CEN1006) have to be checked in order to fully comprehend new concepts introduced in this course. Therefore, please read again the listed chapters from the following book:
Campbell, N. A., Urry, L. A., Cain, M. L., Wasserman, S. A., Minorsky, P. V., & Reece, J. B. (2018). Biology: A global approach (11th ed.). Pearson.
Concept 19.1: DNA sequencing and DNA cloning are valuable tools for genetic engineering and biological inquiry
Concept 19.3: Cloned organisms and stem cells are useful for basic research and other
applications
Concept 19.4: The practical applications of DNA-based biotechnology affect our lives in many ways
During the course, please read from Campbell et al. (2018) the following chapters: See the manual.
Recommended:
- Wang, K., & Zhang, F. (2022). Protoplast Technology (1st ed.). Humana New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2164-6
- Neumann, K.-H., Kumar, A., & Imani, J. (2020). Plant Cell and Tissue Culture – A Tool in Biotechnology. In Plant Cell and Tissue Culture – A Tool in Biotechnology (2nd ed). Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49098-0
- Collin H.A. & Edwards, G.S. (1998). Plant Cell Culture. Springer