Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology

Plant biochemistry and biotechnology are two important branches of modern plant science. The course focuses on the biochemistry and biotechnology of plants. The course is designed to give a brief understanding of the fundamentals of plant biochemistry with a view to provide the learners with an understanding of plant growth and requirements of plants. Studying of biochemical processes including photosynthesis, respiration, nitrogen cycle, growth hormones and secondary metabolism will provide a unique insight into how plant cells can be used and manipulated in in vitro cultures.Plant tissue culture and genetic engineering are the two main techniques used in plant biotechnology. The course introduces the various aspects and application of plant tissue culture with a view to provide the fundamental knowledge of plant tissue culture to the learners. An attempt is also made to introduce gene transfer methods for plant transformation and also the applications of transgenic plants. The course winds up with a brief introduction of molecular markers and their application in crop improvement.

Week 1
: 1 Plant and animal cell : 2 Photosynthesis: Significance of Photosynthesis : 3 Ultrastructure of Chloroplast and photosynthetic pigments : 4 Photosynthesis in C3 and C4 plants
Week 2
: 1 Photosynthetic light and dark reactions : 2 Photophosphorylation and Photorespiration : 3 Plant genome organization : 4 Molecular biology of biotic and abiotic stresses
Week 3
: 1 Plant growth and development : 2 Biological nitrogen fixation : 3 Nitrate and sulphate reduction and their incorporation into amino acids : 4 Secondary metabolites
Week 4
: 1 Secondary metabolites II : 2 Plant hormones I: Introduction, biochemistry and mode of action of auxins : 3 Plant hormones II: Gibberellins and Cytokinins : 4 Plant hormones III: Ethylene and Abscisic Acid
Week 5
: 1 Concept of Plant Biotechnology : 2 Totipotency and morphogenesis : 3 Growth media, environmental factors and explants source : 4 Micropropagation
Week 6
: 1 Embryo culture and plant organ culture : 2 Callus culture and somatic embryogenesis : 3 Single cell and cell suspension culture : 4 Protoplast isolation, purification, culture and fusion
Week 7
: 1 Factors Affecting in vitro Secondary Metabolite Production : 2 Hairy Root Culture : 3 Somaclonal Variation : 4 Synthetic seed technology
Week 8
: 1 Germplasm Conservation : 2 Direct and indirect methods of gene transfer : 3 Transgenic plants and their applications : 4 Morphological, Biochemical and DNA – based markers
Week 9
: 1 Marker assisted selection (MAS) and crop improvement : 2 Requirements for plant tissue culture laboratory : 3 Micropropagation : 4 To Study about Callus Induction and Plant Regeneration
Week 10
: 1 Spectral analysis of DNA : 2 Cell suspension culture : 3 Determination of molecular size of DNA sample by agarose gel electrophoresis : 4 DNA Profiling of Plants