Syllabus
Stress and Plants - overview, terminology and theories of stress. 1. Overview of stress factors and their effects on different parts of world, theory stress-strain, stressor-stress, resistance mechanisms in plants - escape, avoidance, tolerance, stress response, acclimation and adaptation in plants. Abiotic factors - occurrence, mechanisms of damage and resistance in plants. 2.
Mechanical stress - mechanisms of reception and resistance. Heat stress - avoidance and tolerance of plants to heat, membrane phase transition, heat shock proteins. 3.
Chilling and freezing stresses, damage by cold, avoidance and tolerance of plants to cold, hardening. Osmotic stress - drought and water deficit in plants, drought resistance, dehydrins, water use efficiency.4.
Salinity stress, ions and osmotic stress, resistance to salts and toxic effects of ions, osmotic adjustment, turgor maintenance. Heavy metals and xenobiotics, metal toxicity, effects on pH, mechanisms of resistance, phytochelatins, phytoremediation. 5.
Flooding and oxygen deficiency, hypoxic and anoxic condition, acclimation and adaptation to flood, development of aerenchyma, effects on ethylene. 6. Nutrition stresses - deficience of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, mechanisms of tolerance.
Irradiance, UV irradiance, mechanisms of damage and resistance. 7. Oxidative stress - reactive nitrogen species, reactive oxygen species, photoinhibiton and photodestruction, antioxidant enzymes and compounds. 8.
Role of saccharides in plant stress - osmoregulators and osmoprotectants, quenching of ROS, signalling, vitrification. 9. Phytohormones involved in plant stress - mechanisms of action and regulation Biotic factors - occurrence, mechanisms of damage and resistance in plants. 10.
Plant pathogens, diseases, host physiology, plant defence against pathogen attack, disease resistance, hypersensitive reactions, elicitors, PR-proteins. 11. Herbivory, plant - herbivory interactions, indirect and direct defences, phytoalexins, systemic acquired resistance, defensive compounds. 12.
Generalities, trends, allelopathy, hypersensitive response.
Annotation
Concepts and theories of stress in plants (Stressor-stress, Stress-strain, Stress factors-stress response). Theories and definitions of adaptation, acclimation, coping, resistance, tolerance, and avoidance. Occurrence of abiotic and biotic stresses. Specific and unspecific reactions (stress genes, stress proteins, stress fytohormones, oxidative stress). Mechanisms of damage and resistance in plants to frost, chilling, heat, drought, salt, flooding, hypoxia, anoxia, heavy metals, radiation (UV, visible, infrared), mechanical stress, pathogens-diseases (viruses, bacteria, fungi, worms), pests (herbivores, insects). Plant defence systems, multiple stress interaction. literature:
The chapter Stress Physiology in texbook: Plant Physiology (Taiz a Zeiger, eds., Sinauer Associates, Inc., Publishers, Sunderland, Massachusetts, 1998).
E.T.Nilsen, D.M.Orcutt, Physiology of plants under stress. Abiotic Factors (1996), Soil and Biotic Factors (2000) John Willey and Sons, Inc. N.Y.-Chichester-Brisbane-Singapore-Weinheim.