Overall objectives:

1 - Know basic concepts of plant and blue biotechnology;
2 - Know methodologies and techniques used in the context of plant and blue biotechnology;
3 - Recognize the cross-cutting framework of some of the concepts used;
4 - Develop laboratory performance capabilities in some areas of plant and blue biotechnology;
5 - Develop capacities to reflect and value the knowledge of plant and blue biotechnology in the area of agri-food and nutraceuticals;
6 - Develop a deductive logical reasoning that allows them to identify and consequently solve questions/problems of plant and blue biotechnology;
7 - Develop skills to interpret, evaluate, decide and intervene responsibly in situations related to future professional activity;
8 - Develop interpersonal communication skills;
9 - Develop active learning skills;
10 - Develop and demonstrate initiative, autonomy and work habits.

Syllabus:

1 - Introduction to Plant Biotechnology. Brief historical review. Fundamentals of in vitro plant tissue culture. Concept of totipotency. Components of in vitro culture. Concepts of morphogenesis and cytodifferentiation.
2 - Plant material (explants). Controlled environment. Physical factors. Asepsis elements.
3 - Culture media. Macro and micronutrient solution. Concept of mother or stock solutions. Vitamins. Carbohydrates. Solidifying agents. Plant hormones. Other growth regulators. Preparation of culture media. Sterilization of culture media.
4 - Micropropagation. Potentialities of the in vitro culture technique applied to plant multiplication. Stages of in vitro plant multiplication.
5 - Introduction to the techniques used in plant biotechnology. Vegetative multiplication. Micropropagation. Reproduction and somatic embryogenesis. Mutagenesis, Selection and Somatic Hybridization. Genetic interactions and Gene transfer. Special techniques. Some applications of plant tissue culture in agriculture and in the multiplication and conservation of other plants.
6 - Types of culture. Micropropagation methods. Propagation by direct organogenesis. Propagation by indirect organogenesis. Culture of meristems and their applications. Propagation by axillary shoots. Micrografting. Somatic embryogenesis. Culture of anthers. Isolation. Culture and fusion of protoplasts.
7 - Practices and problems in plant tissue cultures. browning. vitrification. in vitro rooting difficulties. temporary abnormalities. somaclonal variation. mutations. plant conformity. acclimatization problems.
8 - Application of micropropagation in the agri-food area. Economic considerations. Commercial laboratories in Portugal, Europe and the world. Calculations to be considered in a commercial in vitro plant production laboratory.
9 - Introduction to Blue Biotechnology. Brief historical review;
10 - Introduction to seaweed (micro and macroalgae). Bioresources diversity and its potential.
11 - General characterization of the biochemical composition. Polysaccharides. Structural diversity. Sulphated polysaccharides. Carotenoids. Diversity and structure. Fatty acids. Diversity and structure.
12 - Marine nutraceuticals. Introduction. Functional carbohydrates. Polyunsaturated fatty acids. Carotenoids. Extraction, isolation and purification. Nutraceutical market and quality control.
13 - Marine enzymes. Production and application. Pharmaceuticals derived from marine organisms. Marine biomaterials.
14 - Seaweed production in photobioreactors. Nutrients. Design and operation. Limiting factors. Future photobioreactors.
15 - Applied laboratory activities to illustrate and explain the theoretical contents of the UC

Literature/Sources:

B. B. Buchanan; W. Gruissem; R. L. Jones , 2015 , Biochemistry & Molecular Biology of Plants , John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published
DENMIS, D. T.; TURPIN, D. H , 1990 , Plant Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology , Longman Scientific & Technica
MHAY, R.;PORTER, J , 2006 , The physiology of crop yield , Blackwell, Oxford
Slater A, Scott N, Fowler MR , 2003 , Plant Biotechnology The Genetic Manipulation of Plants , Oxford University Press 9780199254682.
Michael R. Davey, Paul Anthony , 2011 , Plant Cell Culture: Essential Methods , Wiley.
Canhoto, J. M. , 2010 , Biotecnologia vegetal: da clonagem de plantas à transformação genética , Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra
Torres, A. C., Ferreira, A. T., de SÀ, F. G., Buso, J. A., Caldas, L. S., Nascimento, A. S., ... & Romano, E. , 2000 , Glossário de biotecnologia vegetal , Embrapa Hortaliças-Livro técnico (INFOTECA-E).
Alam, A., Xu, J.-L., & Wang, Z. , 2020 , Microalgae Biotechnology for Food, Healthand High Value Products , Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0169-2.
Anderson, R. A. , 2005 , Algal Culturing Techniques , In Journalof Chemical Information and Modeling
Kim, S.-K. , 2015 , Handbook of Marine Biotechnology , Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Kim, S.-K., & Chojnacka, K. , 2015 , Marine Algae Extracts Processess, Products, and Applications. , Elsevier
Kim, Se Kwon , 2011 , Handbook of Marine Macroalgae: Biotechnology and Applied Phycology. In Handbook of Marine Macroalgae: Biotechnology and Applied Phycology , https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119977087
Pereira, L. , 2009 , Guia ilustrado das macroalgas , Biologia
Redmond, S., Green, L., Yarish, C., Kim, J., & Neefus, C. , 2014 , New England Seaweed Culture Handbook , New England SeaweedCulture Handbook

Assesssment methods and criteria:

Classification Type: Quantitativa (0-20)

Evaluation Methodology:
The aim is to acquire and apply the knowledge foreseen in the course?s objectives and syllabus contents. through an active and interdisciplinary methodology. The student should learn the basic concepts and know-how to relate them to each other, proceeding with their reinforcement, through applied learning with resources and available tools. To achieve the objectives and implement the syllabus, the UC's contact hours are scheduled as follows: Theoretical-practical teaching: 30 hours; Practical and laboratory teaching: 50 hours; and Field work: 20 hours. The evaluation will include several moments of evaluation applied to the theoretical-practical components, laboratory practices and field work (e.g. frequencies, works and reports), any of the elements cannot exceed a weighting of 50%. the theoretical-practical elements can be retrieved in resource.