Università Roma Tre

Plants are sessile organism. Main strategies of response to environmental stimuli. Re-modulation of developmental programs. Immobility and totipotency of plant cells. Role of plant cell wall in growth. Physiological and metabolic alteration. Cell-cell communication and long-distance communication: hormones, transcription factors, waves of reactive oxygen species and electrical signals. Perception of internal and external stimuli. Main classes of receptors and intracellular transduction pathways. Integration of different signals and signaling pathways. Secondary metabolism: biosynthesis and roles of secondary metabolites in plant/plant, plant/insects, plant/microorganism communication. Fundamentals of plant pathology: mechanism of infection and resistance. Host-pathogen interaction. Control of plant diseases by chemicals, biological fight, breeding and genetic engineering. Responses to abiotic stresses (drought, flooding, high salinity, high and low temperature, high light).

Practical laboratories
Analysis of the expression levels of amine oxidase-encoding genes in wounded and unwounded Arabidopsis seedlings: RNA extraction and quantification by RTqPCR (Reverse transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction)
Observation under light microscopy of tissue-specific gene expression of copper amine oxidases (AtCuAO) after GUS-staining using 5-day-old PromAtCuAO-GUS-GFP Arabidopsis transgenic seedlings, fixed in 90% acetone and washed in phosphate buffer.

1) Interazioni Piante-Ambiente. Luigi Sanità di Toppi; Piccin Editore
2) Biologia delle Piante Vol. 2: Interazioni con l’ambiente e Domesticazione. Smith A. M. et al; Zanichelli Editore


The professor receives every day by appointment via e-mail: alessandra.cona@uniroma3.it