A short description of the topics to be covered is given under

A short description of the topics to be covered is given under 'Course Materials'.

Course Materials

There is no prescribed Text Book for this course. We will refer to some portions of certain chapters from Microbial Genetics / Maloy, Stanley R. / 2nd ed. / Boston / 1994 http://www.netLibrary.com/urlapi.asp?action=summary&v=1&bookid=25701

Copy and paste this link in the address window of the browser. To view contents and read,

username = microbe; password = bio366

Question for identity check: What country do you live in? USA

This book will be 'on reserve' in the Life Sciences library.

Topics

1. Nucleic Acids.

The chemical stuff of nucleic acids. Structure of DNA. Physical properties of DNA and RNA. Genetic information as the chemical sequence of nucleic acids.

2. Higher-order Structure of DNA.

DNA topology. Negative and positive supercoiling. Plectonemic and solenoidal supercoiling. Regulation of negative supercoiling in vivo. Topoisomerase and their in vivo functions. Epigenetics: silencing of chromatin regions.

3. DNA Replication.

Initiation, elongation and termination of replication. Uni-directional and bi-directional replication. Fidelity of replication. The concept of the cell cycle; how it operates in bacteria.

4. Genetic Recombination.

Recombination in bacteria and fungi. Homologous and site-specific recombination. Models of recombination. The Holliday intermediate in recombination. Double strand break repair in fungi and higher systems. Applications of gap-repair in gene targeting. DNA transposition. Use of transposons as mutagens.

5. Site-specific DNA recombination. Families of site-specific recombinases. Mechanisms

6. Regulation of Gene Expression

Positive and negative control of gene expression. Control by attenuation.

7. Alternative Modes of Gene Regulation in Bacterial Viruses

Lysogenic and lytic life cycles of phage lambda. Termination and anti-termination in control of gene expression. The developmental program in phage T4. Switching of gene expression patterns by protein factors. Modification of DNA bases for self-protection.

8. Application of Microbial Genetics to Genetic Engineering and Technology. Discussion of original papers.

Course Goals

The purpose of the course is to familiarize you with the fundamental features of gene organization, function and regulation in the microbial world. It is hoped that the concepts you learn here will make it easier for you to follow more specialized molecular biology courses on the genetic regulatory mechanisms in higher systems.

Course Policies

The tests as listed under 'Announcements'. The dates will be announced in advance. They will test your conceptual grasp. The questions will be designed to elicit brief answers. The tests will be held during regular class hours, and each will be of 1 hr 10 min duration.

Each test will be graded over a total of 100 points. Scores will be averaged with weighting) for determining the final grade.