OVERVIEW

The course consists of frontal lectures of cell biology and general genetics. At the end of the course students will be accompanied in the laboratory where the teacher works to see how a research laboratory is organized. In addition, students will be able to attend on-going experiments related to the exam program.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course promotes the knowledge of the organization and functioning of eukaryotic cells and the understanding of inheritance transmission mechanisms.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the course the student knows:

- living matter composition and organization in its biological elementary units and basic cellular processes of living organisms.

- organization of genetic information, its transmission and expression in eukariotic cells and interaction between ambient and genome.

- cellular proliferation and organism reproduction and principal mechanisms that underly to the continuity and variance of organisms.

TEACHING METHODS

frontal lectures and visit to a research laboratory

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Cell Biology

living cell composition

• Lipids, proteins, nucleic acid and carbohydrates. Structure and their functions.

Metabolic energy

ATP production from organic molecules

Cellular components biosynthesis 

The cell:

• VIrus, procariotic and eucariotic cells
• Plasma membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus and nucleolus. Function of different structures.

Asexual and sexual reproduction

Cell cycle and mitosis

• Meiosis
• Cell division control

Signal transmission: 

• Growth factors and cell signal transduction

Oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes, oncogenic viruses

Cell death and cell renewal:

• Programmed cell death
• stem cells

The extracellular matrix:

• Component macromolecules and its organization

Cellular interactions:

• Cell-cell interactions
• Cell-matrix interactions

General Genetics

The gene theory and Mendelism
Mendel's laws:

• Segregation of alleles and the genetic significance of meiosis
• The independent assortment

Non-Mendelian inheritance and variations in Mendelian ratio:

• Multiple Alleles and ABO Blood Groups
• Incomplete dominance and Co-dominance
• Interaction between genes
• lethal genes

The chromosomal theory of inheritance:

• Match between Mendelian factors and chromosomes
• Sexual chromosomes
• Characters related to sex

The chromosome nondisjunction
Chromosomal translocations
Human chromosomal syndromes
Concatenation and gene mapping:

• Gene Association and Recombination
• Calculation of the gene distances by recombination
• Cross over points for gene mapping (hints)

The anatomy of the human genome
Character Transmission
Dominance and recessive
Autosomic characters
Characters related to sex
The genealogical trees
Penetration and Expressivity
The biochemical nature of the gene:

• The discovery of nucleic acids
• Griffith's experiment and bacterial transformation
• Identifying DNA as a Transforming Principle
• The DNA structure
• Implications of the Watson & Crick model
• The Central Dogma of Biology

DNA duplication

• DNA replication theoretical models
• DNA Polymerase
• The replications in the prokaryotes
• Replication in eukaryotes

Genetic mutations

• Molecular mechanisms of mutations
• Molecular DNA repair mechanism

The transcription of RNA

• The world of RNAs
• RNA polymerase II and transcription of mRNA
• The maturation of mRNA
• RNA polymerase I and rRNA transcription
• RNA polymerase III and the transcription of tRNA, snRNA, snoRNA

Protein biosynthesis

• The molecular structure of proteins-coding genes
• The genetic code
• tRNAs
• Protein synthesis in prokaryotes
• Protein synthesis in eukaryotes
• Post-translational modifications

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

L'essenziale di Biologia Molecolare della Cellula, Alberts et al., Zanichelli

Biologia Molecolare della cellula. Harvey Lodish et al., Zanichelli

Genetica, un approcciomolecolare. Peter J. Russel, Pearson

Genetica - principi di analisiformale. Anthony J. F. Griffiths et al.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

PAOLO MALATESTA (President)

SARA TAVELLA (President and Coordinator of Integrated Course)

LESSONS

EXAMS

Exam schedule