Plant cell biology and development

Coordinator

Marianne Delarue

Goals

At the end of the course, students will be able to:
 - To understand in a theoretical and practical way the development of plants and their adaptations as the main stages of angiosperms development and their molecular and cellular determinism
 - To know the major regulators of developmental transitions and their signaling pathways, whether endogenous (hormones, peptide signals, etc...) or exogenous (light and photoperiod) and their possible interactions. 
 - To be able to formulate hypotheses and to set up an experimental approach to answer them
 - To gain autonomy in learning recent methods of plant cellular and molecular analysis used in development biology (genetic forward, gene targeting and genome editing, protein-protein and protein-DNA interaction studies, analysis of the temporal expression of a gene, etc.)

Skills

The assessment will focus on the ability to integrate theoretical information, data analysis and bibliographic references presented in the form of presentations and written reports.

Content

The aim of this course is to understand and master key concepts in plant developmental biology at the molecular, cellular and whole-organism levels. The topics covered, whether in model or cultivated species, will concern the major stages of plant life and morphogenesis, responses to environmental change, natural diversity and variation, and certain aspects of Evo-Devo. This knowledge can be re-used to explore new themes in future courses, whether or not they specialize in the study of development.

Format

The TU will include a proportion of traditional teaching (lectures/TD/TP), sessions centered on debate and the formulation of questions, and a series of presentations during which students will be asked to present and discuss analysis techniques. The UE is divided into 3 pedagogical and thematic blocks:
 - What is a plant cell and plant development?
 - How to study plant development?
 - How developmental knowledge can be useful?

Language : English

Mandatory TU

ECTS : 4

Lectures : 20 ;  Directed Study : 10; Practical Study : 6