Biochemistry and Plant Physiology

Principles of bioenergetics and thermodynamics: thermodynamics laws, enthropy and free energy. Exo- and endoergonic reactions. ATP and phosphor group transfer. Energetically coupled reactions. Redox reactions: relationship between changes in redox potential and changes in free energy. Thermodynamics and kinetics of enzymatic catalysis: Michaelis-Menten equation. Inhibition and regulation of enzyme-catalyzed reactions. Carbon metabolism: degradation of storage polysaccharides, glycolysis and fermentation. Effects of hypoxia and anoxia in plants. TCA cycle. Electron flux and oxidative phosphorylation. Mitchell's chemiosmosis theory. Energy yield of respiration. Other mechanisms of O2 consumption in plants. The pentose-P pathway. Beta-oxydation of fatty acids and the glyoxylate cycle. Photosynthesis: the electromagnetic spectrum, chemistry and physiology of photosynthetic pigments. Photosystems: light-harvesting complexes and reaction centres. Photosynthetic electron flux and photophosphorylation. Effects of herbicides on the photosynthetic electron transport. Photoxydative damage. Carbon assimilation: C3 cycle, photorespiration, C4 cycle, CAM metabolism. Ecophysiology of photosynthesis. Carbon allocation: synthesis of starch and sucrose. Plants and water: the water potential and the factors contributing to water potential. Water and the plant cell: osmosis, cell turgor, expansion growth. Water absorption by the root: apoplastic and symplastic pathways. Transpirational water movement in the xylem. Driving forces of transpiration, water diffusion through the stomata, regulation of stomata opening. Plant adaptations to water stress. Mineral nutrition: essential nutrients, nutritional deficiencies and plant physiological disorders, nutrient bio-availability. Solute transport in plant cells: transmembrane chemical and electrochemical potential. Thermodynamics and kinetics of transmembrane solute transport. Pumps, carriers and channels. Assimilation of nitrate and sulphate. Phloem transport: osmotically generated pressure flow, phloem loading and unloading. Assimilate partitioning: sink-source relationship.