Food science and technology

Domestication of plants. Traditional breeding and molecular marker-assisted breeding. Introgression of traits in crops of agronomic interest. QTL and GWAS. General concepts on secondary metabolism in plants. Metabolic pathways (phenols, terpenoids, alkaloids, glucosinolates) and their metabolic engineering to obtain improved crops. Lipids. Plant metabolomics: Study of metabolic profiles in plants to characterize metabolic phenotypes of biotechnological interest. Applications of plant proteomics and metabolomics to the study of plant growth and development. Integration of proteomic and metabolomic data in the development of crops improved in agronomic traits and nutritional quality. Cell wall: advanced methods of analysis. Cell wall modification for improvement of growth and resistance to stress, cell wall polysaccharides of food interest. Cell wall-modifying enzymes and protein inhibitors, expression of enzymes and inhibitors in plants for technological applications in the food sector. Dietary fibers. Biologically active poly/oligosaccharides of plant origin: biological properties, mechanism of action as pesticides and prebiotics. Applications of metabolic engineering to obtain new molecules of industrial interest. Examples of molecular farming: production of antibodies, vaccines and metabolites of biomedical interest in plants. Crop improvement by genetic engineering. Plants with higher productivity. Improved plants for resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses.

The knowledge that it would be important to have acquired is that of courses in botany, molecular biology, genetic engineering, plant physiology, cellular biology and biochemistry at the three-year degree level.

- Teaching material provided through E-Learning (articles, reviews, lectures slides); - Biotecnologie Sostenibili - Galbiati et al. – EDAGRICOLE - Biotecnologie e Genomica delle Piante - Rao e Leone - Idelson-Gnocchi (acronimo BGP) - Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Plants, - Buchanan, Gruissem e Jones, 2° ed., Wiley Blackwell

The frequency of teaching classes is not mandatory, but is strongly encouraged.

The exam aims to verify the level of knowledge of the topics of the syllabus and the reasoning skills developed by the student. The evaluation is expressed in thirtieths (minimum grade 18/30, maximum mark 30/30 with honors). The evaluation consists of an oral test. The exam allows the teacher to verify the achievement of the objectives in terms of knowledge and skills acquired as well as communication skills.

The course is structured in frontal theoretical lessons. The lessons are held in the classroom through the use of slides on Power Point.