Plant Biotechnology

Code:

BIOL4063

Acronym:

BIOL4063

Level:

400

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Biology

Instance: 2025/2026 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Biology
Course/CS Responsible:	Master in Applications in Biotechnology and Synthetic Biology

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
M:ABBS	12	Study plan since academic year 2025/2026	1	-	3	21	81

Teaching language

Suitable for English-speaking students

Objectives

This UC will introduce students to current technologies in molecular, biochemical and computational biology to study and change the physiology and/or development of plants at the molecular level.

Learning outcomes and competences

Students will learn how to design strategies and apply molecular and cellular concepts in: i) identifying biological issues in which Plant Biotechnology is relevant; ii) planning this research by choosing appropriate Plant Biotechnology tools to use (transformation systems, respective vectors, and gene constructs to be elaborated), iii) the interpretation of the obtained results (selection of plants, molecular, biochemical and histological tests for their characterization). Several laboratory and in silico tools will be applied in the area of genetic manipulation of higher plants by using concepts in recombinant DNA technology, such as DNA manipulation, PCR and bioinformatics, and regulation of transcription of plant genes.

Working method

Presencial

Program

1 - Plant-specific transformation methods: Agrobacterium, biolistics, protoplast transformation. Stable and transient transformation.

2 - In vitro culture techniques associated with obtaining transgenic cells, organs or plants.

3 - Reporter systems used in plants: GUS, LUC and fluorescent proteins.

4 - Methodologies for inducible expression, tissue-specific expression, gene overexpression and silencing.

5 - "T-DNA tagging" and "transposon tagging" for obtaining insertion mutants.

6 - Transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics studies in plants. Bioinformatics tools.

7 - Plant biotechnology. Applications of biotechnology in agribusiness. Present and future of plant biotechnology, current legislation and public debate.

8 - Case studies presented by teachers and/or invited researchers.

9 - Hands-on work with laboratory and in silico tools used in molecular biology of plants through practical cases.

Mandatory literature

Bob B. Buchanan; Biochemistry & molecular biology of plants. ISBN: 978-0-470-71421-8
James D. Watson; Recombinant DNA. ISBN: 9781429203128
Harvey F. Lodish; Molecular cell biology. ISBN: 978-1-4641-0981-2

Teaching methods and learning activities

Lectures of the theoretical-practical type will be given using powerpoint-like presentations and videos, where student participation is encouraged through a discussion component. Research papers, most relevant to the topics discussed, will also be analysed and discussed with particular emphasis on the experimental methods described therein, so that students become alerted to how such procedures are performed. Development of a practical case using in silico tools and/or several laboratory techniques.

 

Type of Evaluation:

The continuous evaluation will consist of:

- Written test 70%.

- Paper presentations 30% - this component of the evaluation will be performed by presentation of selected articles using the knowledge acquired during the UC. The work is presented and discussed in class. In assessing this component is also considered the interest and participation of students.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

designation	Weight (%)
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	30,00
Exame	70,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

designation	Time (hours)
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	10,00
Estudo autónomo	71,00
Total:	81,00

Eligibility for exams

The student will lose attendance at the subject if 1/3 of the scheduled classes is exceeded.

Calculation formula of final grade

Type of Evaluation:

The continuous evaluation will consist of:

- Written test 70%.

- Paper presentations 30% - this component of the evaluation will be performed by presentation of selected articles using the knowledge acquired during the UC. The work is presented and discussed in class. In assessing this component is also considered the interest and participation of students.

Classification improvement

It will be possible to improve the classification by making a new written test. The paper presentation component is not subject to improvement.
This final classification will be:

- New written test 70%.

- Paper presentation 30% (grade obtained on presentation and discussion in the classroom; see above).

Observations

Coordinating Professor - Jorge Teixeira

Curricular Unit Jury - Jorge Teixeira and Paula Melo