AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The attendance and participation in the planned training activities will enable the student to acquire the knowledge of General Biology studied in an evolutionary key.

Specifically, the student will be able to:

• To know the current theories concerning the origin of life, the onset of eukaryotic cells and the evolution of metazoans.

• To know the main evolutionary theories able to explain the evolutionary radiation of the animals.

• To know the genetic code.

• To know the main processes related to the transmission of characters

• To know the main processes related to energy metabolism in autotrophs and heterotrophs.

• To understand the relationship between form and function at the level of the main organic systems of animals.

• To know the relationships that bind the souls between them and their environment.

• To knowing the relationships between animals and humans

TEACHING METHODS

The course consists of lectures .  Lectures in the classroom are delivered through multimedia presentations.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Water, the molecule and its structure, characteristics of water.

Biomolecules; carbon and its possibilities in molecular architecture, functional groups, reactivity of functional groups, sugars, lipids, amino acids, proteins and enzymes, polymers of biological importance, nucleosides, nucleotides and nucleic acids.

History of Life on Earth.

Main evolutionary theories.

Concept of Species and Speciation.

Cellular anatomy

Energy metabolism, photosynthesis, chemosynthesis, glycolysis, fermentation, cellular respiration

Cell reproduction; Bacterial cells, eukaryotic cells, cell cycle, control of cell division, chromosomes, abnormal cell divisions. Meiosis and cycles of sexual life, DNA and chromosomes, mitosis-meiosis comparison, origin of genetic variety, Mendel's laws, gene, chromosomal bases of inheritance, molecular bases of inheritance, transcription and translation processes.

Relationship between form and function in animals (Nutrition-Nutrition, Gaseous exchanges, Apparatocirculation, Excretion, Body surface, Skeleton, Movement, Nervous system, Sense organs, Hormonal regulation, Reproduction)

Organisms and the environment

Organisms and man

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

All slides used during lessons and other teaching materials will be available on AulaWeb at the end of each lesson cycle.

The following books are suggested as an example, but students can still use other university level texts. The recommended texts are available and can be consulted at the M.F.N. School of Science Library

• Mader, Biologia: l'essenziale PICCIN
• AA.VV. Zoologia Parte Generale  Idelson Gnocchi