BIOTECHNOLOGY AGRICULTURE

Transcription

1 Syllabus BIOTECHNOLOGY AGRICULTURE Last update HU Credits: 3 Degree/Cycle: 2nd degree (Master) Responsible Department: biotechnology Academic year: 0 Semester: 2nd Semester Teaching Languages: Hebrew Campus: Rehovot Course/Module Coordinator: Dr. Yehiam Salts Coordinator ysalts@volcani.agri.gov.il Coordinator Office Hours: On appointment by Teaching Staff: Dr. Yehiam Salts Dr. Rivka Barg page 1 / 5

2 Course/Module description: The course will focus on the study of genetic engineering technologies in plants. Understanding the molecular and physiological basis of the technologies, and it's implementation in food and feed crops. Course/Module aims: To explain the potential of genetic engineering in crop plants, and to review the achievements accomplishes up-to-date. Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to: To explain the application of genetic engineering in plants. To comprehend the difficulties of its implementation. To be able to define the advantages of its application in agriculture. To be able to define the disadvantages and shortcomings of agricultural biotechnology. To demonstrate how biotechnology can be applied to improve agricultural properties of various crops. To be able to analyze and criticize scientific papers dealing with application of biotechnology to agriculture. Attendance requirements(%): 80 Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: Frontal lectures and reading of scientific articles Course/Module Content: Transforming Plants with foreign DNA v Technologies for transformation: Agrobacterium, Gene-gun, naked DNA transformation, transformation of DNA into plastids. v Tools used for expression of genes in plants: promoters (general, tissue specific, inducible), transcription enhancers and terminators, selectable marker genes, reporter genes. Methodologies for the identification of valuable genes v Mutagenesis followed by TILLING v Gene silencing followed by phenotype examination v Insertional mutagenesis followed by gene cloning page 2 / 5

3 v Chromosome walking v Gene expression analysis by microarrays, deep sequencing of cdna and genomic DNA, proteomics, metabolomics, and system biology Genome editing v Utilization of site specific recombination such as FLP-FRT, Cre-Lox v Site specific mutagenesis, site specific deletions and insertions via ZFNendonucleases, TALEN- endonucleases and CRISPR/Cas Different applications based on CRISPR/Cas9 technologies (i) Deletions. (ii) Insertions. (iii) Knockouts. (iv) Transcriptional activation. (v) Transcriptional repression. (vi) Fusion protein delivery. (vii) Imaging. (viii) Epigenetic state alteration. (x) RNA cleavage. Transgenic plants harboring valuable traits v Herbicide resistance v Resistance to biotic stress by plant transformation Resistance to viral pathogens by the following transgenic means: resistance (R) genes viral coat protein expression gene silencing by viral (or viroid) antisense or hairpin RNA defective viral replicase expression expression of ribozymes aimed at viral (or viroid) genomes expression of viral satellite RNA CRISPR-Mediated viral RNA cleavage Resistance to other pathogens (bacteria, fungi and nematodes) by genes originating from plants, other organisms, or by silencing essencial pathogene genes Resistance to insects by transformation with Bt endotoxin and other genes originating from plants or other organisms v Resistance to abiotic stress (heat, drought and salinity) by plant transformation v Manipulation of plant hormone levels and response in transgenic plants, including: ethylene, auxin, cytokinin, gibberellins and ABA v Manipulation of sugar, starch and lipids synthesis and levels in transgenic plants v Manipulation of flower and fruit color and shelf-life v Improving nutritional value of agricultural crops by enhancing vitamins, aminoacids and antioxidants levels v Phytoremediation using transgenic plants v Transgenic plants as factories for biopharmaceuticals such as insulin, human growth hormone, antibodies etc. v Transgenic plants as a source for biodegradable plastics Cloning and production of transgenic livestock: such as fish, poultry, cattle, swine sheep and goats page 3 / 5

4 Required Reading: 1. Zhou VW, Goren A, (2011) Bernstein BE. Charting histone modifications and the functional organization of mammalian genomes. Nat Rev Genet. 12: Berens C, Groher F, Suess B. (2015) RNA aptamers as genetic control devices: the potential of riboswitches as synthetic elements for regulating gene expression. Biotechnol J. 10: Serganov A, Nudler E. (2013) A decade of riboswitches. Cell. 152: Ketting RF. (2011) The many faces of RNAi. Dev Cell. 20: Fernandez AI, et al. (2009) Flexible tools for gene expression and silencing in tomato. Plant Physiol. 151: Bortesi L, Fischer R. (2015) The CRISPR/Cas9 system for plant genome editing and beyond. Biotechnol Adv. 33: Pitzschke A, Hirt H. (2010) New insights into an old story: Agrobacterium-induced tumour formation in plants by plant transformation. EMBO J. 29: Zhang Y, Lubberstedt T, Xu M. (2013) The genetic and molecular basis of plant resistance to pathogens. J Genet Genomics. 40: Perlak FJ, Fuchs RL, Dean DA, McPherson SL, Fischhoff DA. (1991) Modification of the coding sequence enhances plant expression of insect control protein genes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 88: Bock R.( 2015) Engineering plastid genomes: methods, tools, and applications in basic research and biotechnology. Annu Rev Plant Biol.;66: Ricroch AE, Hיnard-Damave MC.(2015) Next biotech plants: new traits, crops, developers and technologies for addressing global challenges. Crit Rev Biotechnol. 26:1-16. Additional Reading Material: Course/Module evaluation: End of year written/oral examination 100 % Presentation 0 % Participation in Tutorials 0 % Project work 0 % Assignments 0 % Reports 0 % Research project 0 % Quizzes 0 % Other 0 % Additional information: page 4 / 5

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