Plant Physiology and Biochemistry

LIFE MOLECULES Amino acids, peptides, and proteins; the three-dimensional structure of proteins, carbohydrates and glycobiology; lipids; nucleotides. BIOENERGETICS Bioenergetics and thermodynamics; phosphoryl group transfers and ATP; biological oxidation-reduction reactions; electrochemical potential. ENZYMES Catalysis; an Introduction to Enzymes; how enzymes work; enzyme kinetics; regulatory enzymes METABOLISM Glycolysis; the oxidative pentose phosphate pathway; the citric acid cycle; mitochondrial electron transport and ATP synthesis (oxidative Phosphorylation); respiration in intact plants and tissues; lipid Metabolism; fatty acid catabolism. WATER IN PLANT LIFE The structure and properties of water; diffusion and osmosis; water potential; water potential of plant cells; water in soil, water absorption by roots; water transport through the xylem; water movement from the leaf to the atmosphere (driving force for transpiration, stomatal movement, stomatal control); the soil plant atmosphere continuum; water balance of plants. PHOTOSYNTHESIS The light reactions: photosynthetic pigments; organization of the photosynthetic apparatus; organization of light-absorbing antenna systems; mechanisms of electron transport; proton transport and ATP synthesis in the chloroplast The carbon reactions: the Calvin-Benson cycle; regulation of the Calvin-Benson cycle; the C2 oxidative photosynthetic carbon cycle (photorespiration); the inorganic carbon concentrations mechanisms: the C-4 carbon cycle and the crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM); accumulation and portioning of photosynthates starch and sucrose. PHOTOSYNTHESIS: PHYSIOLOGICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS Photosynthetic responses to light by the intact leaf; photosynthetic responses to temperature, photosynthetic responses to carbon dioxide. TRANSLOCATION IN THE PHLOEM Pathways of translocation; patterns of translocation: source to sink; materials translocated in the phloem; the pressure-flow model, a passive mechanism for phloem transport; phloem loading; phloem unloading; sink-to-source transition. MINERAL NUTRITION AND SOLUTE TRANSPORT Essential nutrients, deficiencies and plant disorders; passive and active transport; transport of ions across membrane; membrane transport processes; membrane transport proteins. ASSIMILATION OF MINERAL NUTRIENTS Nitrate assimilation; ammonium assimilation; sulfur assimilation; phosphate assimilation; cation assimilation; oxygen assimilation. PLANT DEVELOPMENT Photomorphogenesis: the photochemical and biochemical properties of phytochrome; characteristics of phytochrome-induced response Plant hormones: Effects and mode of action.