Unit PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
- Course
- Biological sciences
- Study-unit Code
- 55656908
- Curriculum
- In all curricula
- Teacher
- Chandra Bellasio
- Teachers
-
- Chandra Bellasio
- Hours
- 56 ore - Chandra Bellasio
- CFU
- 8
- Course Regulation
- Coorte 2024
- Offered
- 2026/27
- Learning activities
- Caratterizzante
- Area
- Discipline biomolecolari
- Sector
- BIO/04
- Type of study-unit
- Obbligatorio (Required)
- Type of learning activities
- Attività formativa monodisciplinare
- Language of instruction
- Italian
- Contents
- The course is divided into three parts. The first (Transport) examines the physical and physico-chemical processes that govern the transport of water and solutes through cells and the whole plant. The second (Nutrition) focuses on the mechanisms by which the plant uses light energy to absorb and assimilate carbon dioxide and soil minerals. The third (Regulation) illustrates some of the mechanisms that allow the plant to grow harmoniously while responding to changing environmental stimuli.
- Reference texts
- L. Taiz, E. Zeiger, Plant Physiology (any edition, or similar)
Park S. Nobel, Physicochemical and Environmental Plant Physiology (any edition) - Educational objectives
- Knowledge (Dublin Descriptor 1)
The goal of the course is to build an integrated understanding of healthy plant function, showing how it arises from the combination of simple processes, which are themselves governed by the fundamental laws of physics, chemistry, and mathematics.
Applying Knowledge and Understanding
The student will be able to understand and describe the processes that govern the fundamental functions of a healthy plant. - Prerequisites
- Prerequisite courses: Mathematics, Physics, Botany, General and Inorganic Chemistry, and Organic Chemistry.
- Teaching methods
- 56 hours of lectures.
- Other information
- For information on support services for students with disabilities and/or learning disorders, please visit http://www.unipg.it/disabilita-e-dsa
- Learning verification modality
- There will be two written tests: one mid-course and one at the end. Passing both tests grants access to the oral exam. Students who do not pass the tests may retake them in recovery sessions.
- Extended program
- Review: Plants as sessile organisms; The plant cell; Anatomy overview; Stem organography; Roots. Elementsof analytical geometry and calculus. Thermodynamics Overview: First Law; Free energy; Second Law; Chemical potential.
Part I: Transport
Water: Chemical properties; Surface tension; Menisci, cavities and bubbles; Capillary rise.
Hygrometry, evaporation, condensation, drying and humidification.
Solution dynamics: Chemical potential in generic changes; Diffusion; Electrolytes and membrane potential at equilibrium. Osmosis. Water potential. Laminar flow.
Water and the plant: Turgor; Pressure-volume curves; Transpiring structures; Transpiration and relative humidity; Transpiration and temperature; Water potential in saturated and unsaturated soils; Water potential in a capillary; Plant water potential at equilibrium with the soil; Cohesion-tension theory; Hydraulic conductivity of xylem; Minimum pressure for water ascent; Embolism and cavitation; Cavity stability; Cavity rupture and refilling; Hydraulic vulnerability; Embolus refilling.
Water uptake: Absorbing structures; Casparian strip; Water potential in a transpiring plant.
Solute transport: Semipermeable membranes and equilibrium concentration; Electrogenic pumps; Primary and secondary membrane transport; Symport and antiport.
Part II: Nutrition
CO2 assimilation, light phase: Light and pigments; Electron transporters; Excitation; Charge separation; Photosystem I; Photosystem II; Oxygen evolution; Photophosphorylation; Cyclic and pseudocyclic transport.
Carbon metabolism: Catalysis review; C3 cycle; Rubisco mechanism; Oxygenation and carboxylation; PGA reduction; Regeneration; Starch and sucrose synthesis. Photorespiration. C2 cycle.
C2 and C4 photosynthesis: Anatomy; Subtypes; Ecology. CAM plants.
Mineral nutrition: Growth curves; Macro- and micronutrients.
Nitrogen: Cycle; Uptake and transport; Assimilation; Fixation; Nodules and heterocysts.
Potassium: Uptake; Transport.
Phosphorus: Cycle; Uptake; Mycorrhizae.
Sulfur: Cycle; Uptake; Assimilation.
Iron. Copper.
Basics of agroecology.
Phloem transport: Vascular anatomy review; Transported compounds; Source and sink; Apoplastic phloem loading; Translocation; Unloading.
Part III: Regulation
Cellular pH regulation: Classical model and its limits; H¿-ATPase and updated model.
Excess light: Leaf and chloroplast movements; NPQ and xanthophyll cycle; State transitions. Rubisco regulation. Regulation of the RPP cycle. Regulation of starch and sucrose synthesis.
Stomatal regulation: Anatomy overview; Guard cells; Turgor; Response to red and blue light; CO2 response; Stomatal closure and relative humidity.
Case study: Midday depression of assimilation.
Germination regulation: Seed reserves; Dormancy; Phytochrome; Reserve mobilization.
Light-seeking behavior: Classic coleoptile curvature experiments; Auxin; Vectorial transport; PIN proteins; Acid growth.
Morphogenesis: Morphogen; Root morphogenesis; Shoot morphogenesis. Shoot/root balance.