Syllabus
1. History of plant cell studies. History of plant cell - endosymbiosis and evolution of cellular compartments. Overview of cell membrane compartments - structural point of view.
2. Cell wall. Chemistry of cell wall polysaccharides, their synthesis and origin of cell wall architecture. Wall proteins and the regulation of cell wall dynamics. Structural and functional links between cell wall, plasma membrane and a cytoskeleton.
3. Membrane transport I. Pumps - membrane potential and intracellular homeostasis. Carriers and transport of organic molecules.
4. Membrane transport II. Channels and the integration of transport and signalling processes on the plasmalemma, ER and tonoplast.
5. The nucleus. The organisation and the dynamics of chromatin and initiation of transcription. Splicing and transport of mRNA to cytoplasm. Regulation of mRNA translation and protein degradation.
6. Protein sorting and the regulation of membrane vesicle trafficking. The dynamics of endomembrane system. The vacuole. Secretion and morphogenesis.
7. Plastids. Functional arrangement and plastid polymorphism; plastom organisation and expression. Import to plastids, regulatory links between the nucleus and plastids.
8. Mitochondria. Functional arrangement; chondriom organisation and expression. Import to mitochondria, regulatory links between the nucleus, mitochondria and plastids. Peroxisomes.
9. The cytoskeleton. Its arrangement and dynamics, cytoskeleton interacting proteins. Transformations of cytoskeleton throughout the cell cycle. Cytoskeleton and cell morphogenesis.
10. Plant cell signalling. Photoreceptors and receptors of phytohormones; protein kinases in plants. The role of calcium. Plant cell and stress.
11.The cell cycle regulation. Regulatory proteins of the cell cycle and positional information - how the plant regulates cell cycles of their own cells.
12. Symplast and apoplast. Cells under the rule of plant.
Annotation
This is an intensive course of plant molecular cell biology aiming to provide deep insight into the basic mechanisms of plant cell function. All constituents of plant cells are represented from structural as well as functional point of view with the emphasis on the interdependence of plant cell subsystems and modules. Signalling pathways are described as a part of cell reaction to the developmental as well as environmental clues. Mutational analysis of protein function especially in Arabidopsis links cellular biology with the whole plant physiology. Seminar as an integral part of the course is based on students reading, presenting and discussing original reports on plant cell biology.
The course will be taught in English.