Content (Syllabus outline)
■ Introduction: a brief history, macromolecules, the molecular nature of genes, introduction to gene function
■ Methods in molecular biology:
- Molecular cloning methods: gene cloning, PCR, methods of expressing cloned genes - Molecular tools for studying genes and gene activity: molecular separations, labeled tracers, using nucleic acid hybridization
■ Gene function – acrivity:
I. Replication of genes: – basic mechanism, enzymology and detailed mechanism of replication
II. Gene expression
• transcription: the mechanism of transcription in prokaryotes – operons, major shifts in prokaryotic transcription; transcription in eukaryotes – RNA polymerases and their promoters, general transcription factors and transcription activators in eukaryotes, chromatin structure and its effects on transcription
• post-transcriptional events: mRNA processing – splicing, capping, polyadenylation; other RNA processing events
• translation: ribosomes, t-RNA, genetic code; the mechanism of translation – initiation, elongation and termination
• post-translational events
III. Changing and shuffling of genes
• DNA damage and repair, mutations
• recombination and transposition
Prerequisites
Prerequisites for course work:
• inscription to adequate academic year of study programme Microbiology, Bsc study
Prerequisites for admittance to final exam:
Practical examination (colloquium):
• presence at practicals
Exam:
• practical examination (colloquium)
• presence at lectures