Plant Biology

2 Key excerpts on "Plant Biology"

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  eBook - ePub

  Teaching Biology in Schools

  Global Research, Issues, and Trends

  • Kostas Kampourakis, Michael J. Reiss(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Plants are curious organisms—clearly, they are alive but their apparent lack of any central organization (brain, heart, or nervous system) makes it harder for us to understand how they work. They are slow: usually they look today just like they did yesterday and we have to wait, sometimes a long time, to see changes in them.

  (Van Volkenburgh, foreword in Koller, 2011, p. xiii)

  However, these characteristics also offer opportunities. Numerous cellular processes in plants operate at similar rates to their zoological counterparts providing us with ample opportunities to demonstrate many key biological processes, and indeed experiment upon them as models for living organisms more generally. This is emphasised by their use in common practical investigations in the school laboratory, e.g. investigation of osmotic potential on tissue (potatoes), source of enzymes in rate reactions (leaves) and the source of material for lower secondary introduction to cells using microscopes (onion). Yet, this specific use in practical investigations does not always translate into a broader picture of the contribution plants make to biological science, nor to their role in enabling life on earth. Slingsby (2006), for example, has criticised the role of plants in school biology as being reduced to “victims in a series of photosynthesis experiments that don’t always work” (p. 51).

  If this bleak experimental landscape is adjoined to limitations in teacher and student engagement with plants (Uno, 2009, Nyberg & Sanders, 2014), an emergent problem for society becomes visible. Understanding the contribution of plants to biological life is vital in an era in which plant extinction numbers are increasing (Willis, 2017) and the climate is changing, much of which is attributed to human activity.

  Plant-Blindness

  The role of plants in the received curriculum is frequently perceived as separate from animals, and often focused on specific plant topics

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  eBook - ePub

  Plant Biotechnology and Transgenic Plants

  • Kirsi-Marja Oksman-Caldentey, Wolfgang H. Barz(Authors)
  • 2002(Publication Date)
  • CRC Press

    (Publisher)

  In connection with flower pigments, which are secondary metabolites, it should be remembered that numerous other secondary constitutents of very different chemical structures are valuable Pharmaceuticals. In many countries knowledge of plants as sources of drugs has been cherished for long times. Modern pharmacological and chemical studies have helped in the identification of the relevant compounds. Such investigations are still considered important objectives of plant biotechnology. In some cases extensive breeding programs have already achieved the selection and mass cultivation of high-yielding lines. In modern pharmacy, about 25% of drugs still contain active compounds from natural sources, which are primarily isolated from plants.

  For a good number of years in the period from 1950 to 1980, plant biochemistry and plant biophysics concentrated on elucidation of the photosynthetic processes. The pathways of CO2 assimilation as well as structure, energy transfer reactions, and membrane organization of chloroplasts and their thylakoids were objectives of primary interest. Chloroplast organization and molecular function of this organelle can be regarded as well-understood fields in plant biochemistry and physiology.

  The last three decades of the 20th century were characterized by very comprehensive molecular analyses of chemical reactions, metabolic pathways, cellular organization, and adaptative responses to unfavorable environmental conditions in numerous plant systems. A very broad set of data has been accumulated so that plant biochemistry and closely related fields can now offer a good understanding of plants as multicellular organisms and highly adaptative systems. From a molecular point of view, the construction and the functioning of the different tissues and organs have become clear. Numerous experimental techniques have contributed to this development and some are typical plant-specific methods (i.e., cell culture techniques) with a very broad scope of application.

  A fascinating field of modern plant biochemistry concerns the elucidation of the function and the molecular mechanisms of the various photoreceptor systems of higher plants. Red/far red receptors, blue light-absorbing cryptochromes, and ultraviolet (UV) light photoreceptors are essential components of plant development (1 ). These systems translate a light signal into physiological responses via gene activation. Quite remarkable, phosphorylated/unphosphorylated proteins are the essential components of the signal transduction system (1 ,2

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