Università Roma Tre

THREE ARE THE MAIN ARGUMENTS OF THE COURSE: GENE TRANSFER TECHNIQUES; APPLICATIONS OF PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY; ANALYSIS OF RISKS AND BENEFITS OF PLANT GENETIC MANIPULATION.
IN DETAIL, DURING THE COURSE THE FOLLOWING ARGUMENTS ARE DISCUSSED:
TECHNIQUES FOR GENE TRANSFER INTO THE NUCLEAR AND CHLOROPLASTIC GENOME; TECHNIQUES FOR IN VITRO CULTURE OF PLANT CELLS; USE OF SELECTABLE GENE MARKERS AND REPORTER GENES; STRATEGIES TO REMOVE SELECTABLE GENE MARKERS FROM TRANSGENIC PLANTS; INDUCIBLE EXPRESSION OF TRANSGENES IN PLANTS; TRANSIENT EXPRESSION OF GENES IN PLANTS; GENE SILENCING IN PLANTS; ‘GENE TARGETING’ IN PLANTS; GENOME EDITINGIN IN PLANTS; PLANTS WITH IMPROVED NUTRITIONAL VALUE; PRODUCTION OF ANTIBODIES AND VACCINES IN TRANSGENIC PLANTS; BIOTECHNOLOGICAL STRATEGIES TO OBTAIN PLANTS RESISTANT TO HERBICIDES, PATHOGENS AND ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSES; PLANTS WITH INCREASED PHOTOSYNTHETIC RATE; BIOSAFETY AND BIOETHICAL ISSUES RELATED TO PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY; EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES AND PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY.
LABORATORY ACTIVITY: TRANSFORMATION OF ARABIDOPSIS PLANTS; ANALYSIS OF TRANSGENIC PLANTS BY PCR, RT-PCR, WESTERN BLOT AND ENZYME ACTIVITY ASSAYS; ANALYSIS OF REPORTER GENES IN TRANSGENIC PLANTS; ANALYSIS OF FOOD MATERIAL FOR THE PRESENCE OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED MATERIAL.

-Recommended textbooks:
1. BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF PLANTS (2000) BUCHANAN B.B, GRUISSEM W., JONES R.L., AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PLANT PHYSIOLOGISTS, ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND.
2. BIOLOGIA CELLULARE E BIOTECNOLOGIE VEGETALI (2011) COZZOLINO S., DI SANSEBASTIANO G.P., FORNI C., GENRE A., LANFRANCO L., MICCHELI A., PASQUA G., TRAINOTTI L., VALLETTA A.
3. HANDBOOK OF PLANT BIOYECHNOLOGY (2004) CHRISTOU P., KLEE H., HOBOKEN, (N.J.), WILEY.
4. PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY AND TRANSGENIC PLANTS (2002) OKSMAN-CALDENTEY K.-M., BARZ W.H., NEW YORK, DEKER.

-Scientific articles published in international journals (pdf files will be provided).

-Lecture notes will be provided.