Fundamentals of Plant Physiology

This course is a cross-disciplinary course in L2 SV aimed at providing biology students with a fundamental knowledge base on plant functioning, enabling them to understand current issues in plant agricultural sciences.

The following basic concepts of Plant Physiology/Functional Biology will be studied: 

Essential experimental approaches: plant transgenesis, forward and reverse genetics

basics of autotrophy

mechanisms underlying the major stages of angiosperm development: meristem function, floral transition, fertilization.

auxin, a major hormone for plant development and their response to the abiotic environment

The practical sessions will enable students to manipulate the regulation of plant water nutrition and analyze their mineral nutrition using various biochemical assays (flame photometry, spectrophotometry). 

Knowledge:

Understanding the functional biology approach, combining genetic, physiological, cellular, molecular, and biochemical approaches.

Acquire knowledge about nutrition, growth, and development of higher plants.

Expertise:

Analyze simple experiments, scientific data, and graphs.

Mastering the scientific method: hypothesis, experiments (replicates, controls), data processing, interpretation, conclusion.

Mastering different registers of written and oral expression in French; developing rigorous scientific reasoning.

 Interpersonal skills:

Scientific curiosity and rigor

Acquisition of critical thinking skills

Teamwork (pair work)

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the Cell 1 & 2