Plant growth and development MB 130P20E,
Katedra fyziologie rostlin, Přírodovedecká fakulta Karlovy University v Praze.
Zimní semestr 2010; jazyk výuky angličtina
by
Associate Professor Jan Marc,
visiting from the University of Sydney, Australia [email protected]
Jan graduated with PhD in 1980 at University of NSW in Sydney, Australia, taught briefly plant
biology at the University of Sydney, and was then appointed as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the
Research School of Biological Sciences at the ANU in Canberra. He then moved to the US as a
Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Minnesota, after which he obtained
research funds from NSF and USDA and was appointed as Assistant Research Scientist at the
University of Georgia. In 1992 Jan was appointed as Lecturer at the University of Sydney
where he became tenured and was promoted to Senior Lecturer and then Associate Professor.
Jan teaches plant and cell biology, runs a research laboratory, and supervises postgraduate
students. He has 54 research publications, H-index 22.
(www.bio.usyd.edu.au/about_us/academic_staff/marc_jan
Course description
This lecture course explores the cellular and
molecular mechanisms underlying plant
growth and development from seed to
maturity. It covers the process of building
the plant body from embryogenesis,
development and operation of meristems,
polarity, patterning, controls of flowering
and fruit development to programmed cell
death and senescence. It includes the role of
signals such as plant hormones in coordinating
plant growth and development, and the
cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying
plant responses to environmental signals such
as gravity, light, drought and pathogen attack.
There is a focus on recent plant molecular
biology that has been crucial in enhancing our
current understanding of plant growth and
development. The course uses examples from
crop and horticultural plants as well as the
model plant Arabidopsis thaliana.
Textbooks
Taiz L and Zeiger E, 2006. Plant Physiology
(4th Edition). Sinauer Associates, Inc.,
Publishers, Sunderland, Massachusetts, 764 pp.
Buchanan BB, Gruissem W, Jones RL, 2000.
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Plants.
American Society of Plant Physiologists,
Rockville, Maryland, 1367 pp.
Alberts B, Johnson A, Lewis J, Raff M,
Roberts K, Walter P, 2008. Molecular Biology
of the Cell (5th Edition). Garland Science,
New York, 1268 pp.
Plant growth and development
Associate Professor Jan Marc
Lecture topics
1. Overview of plant growth and development. Totipotency, determination,
differentiation. Cell plate formation, deposition of cell wall, cellulose synthases,
intercalary and tip growth.
2. Cell division and differentiation. Mitosis and cytokinesis, plane of cell division,
cytoskeleton and control of cell shape, differentiation of stomatal guard cells.
3. Embryogenesis and apical meristems. Establishment of body plan, Arabidopsis
model. Root and shoot apical meristems, initiation of leaves and lateral roots.
4. Flowering. Phase change, short- and long-day plants, floral evocation,
transition to flowering at the shoot apex, environmental control of flowering.
5. ABC genetic model of a flower. The ABC of flower formation in
Arabidopsis. Molecular regulation of flowering in Arabidopsis and rice.
6. Auxin: the growth hormone. Polar transport, role in cell elongation,
phototropism, apical dominance, fruit development. Auxin and microtubules.
7. Gibberellins: regulators of plant height and seed germination.
Elongation of dwarf plants, signalling response, cereal aleurone layer, αamylase and endosperm.
8. Cytokinins: regulators of cell division. Role of cytokinins in cell
division, auxin/cytokinin ratio, morphogenesis, plant tissue
culture, Agrobacterium transformation.
9. Ethylene and abscisic acid.
Apical hook opening, fruit ripening,
leaf abscission. Growth inhibition,
stomatal closure, leaf abscission, bud
dormancy.
10. New generation of plant hormones.
Brassinosteroids, jasmonates, salicylic
acid, defence-related compounds.
11. Transduction of
hormonal and
environmental signals.
G-proteins, signalling
enzymes, second
messengers, calcium, phosphatidic acid.
12. Environmental stress signalling.
Responses to drought, salinity and pathogen
attack. Phospholipases C and D. Signalling
through phospholipase-cytoskeleton
interactions.
References
Andreeva Z, Ho AYY, Barthet M, Potocký M, Bezvoda R, Žárský V, Marc J (2009) Phospholipase D family interactions with the
cytoskeleton: isoform Dδ promotes plasma membrane anchoring of cortical microtubules. Funct Plant Biol 36: 600-612
Gardiner JC, Harper, JDI, Weerakoon ND, Collings DA, Ritchie S, Gilroy S, Cyr RJ, Marc J (2001) A 90-kD phospholipase D
from tobacco binds to microtubules and the plasma membrane. Plant Cell 13, 2143-2158
Ho AYY, Day DD, Brown MH, Marc J (2009) Arabidopsis phospholipase Dδ as an initiator of cytoskeleton-mediated signalling
to fundamental cellular processes. Funct Plant Biol 36: 190-198