Sylabus:
1. Definition of biotechnology. History of biotechnology. 2. History of plant biotechnology. 3. Aseptic techniques. 4. Nutrition media and culture conditions. 5. Micropropagation. Tissue and organ cultures. 6. Callus. Cell suspension culture. 7. Protoplasts. Somatic hybridization. 8. Somatic embryogenesis. Organogenesis. 9. Somaclonal variation. 10. Secondary metabolites production. Bioreactors. Biotransformation. Immobilization. 11. Plant secondary metabolism. Elicitors. Elicitation. 12. Genetic transformation. Direct and indirect methods. 13. Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The genes carried by Ti and Ri plasmids. 14. Selection markers. Reporter genes. 15. Germplasm storage. Gene banks. Slow growth method. 16. Cryopreservation. 17. Metabolic engineering. The role of tissue and organ specific plant promoters. 18. Genetic engineering. Plants resistant to biotic and abiotic stresses. 19. Molecular farming. Plant-based edible vaccines. Plastome engineering. 20. RNA silencing. The application of microRNAs in plant biotechnology.