00451 - Genetics

Learning outcomes

Main purpose of this course is to provide some basic knowledges of genetic methods and to explain necessary elements for understanding advanced genetic problems.

Course contents

DNA as the genetic material: experiments by Griffith, Avery-MacLeod-McCarty, and Hershey and Chase. The structure of DNA and RNA.

The semi-conservative mechanism of DNA replication: the experiment of Meselson e Stahl. Replication of circular DNA. Eukaryotic DNA replication. Mitosis and meiosis. Organization of DNA in chromosomes, chromatin structure.

Mendelian genetics, monohybrid crosses, crosses involving multiple loci, chi-squared test.

Chromosomal basis of inheritance, experiments by Morgan and Bridges. Sex determination and sex-linked characteristics, gene dosage compensation.

The gene function: the “one gene, one enzyme hypothesis”experiments by Beadle and Tatum on Neurospora crassa.

Extensions of mendelian genetic analysis, multiple alleles, lethal alleles, gene interaction, interaction of sex and heredity, interaction of genes and environment, Penetrance and expressivity. Temperature-sensitive alleles. Maternal effect.

Mendelian inheritance in humans, pedigree analysis.

Non-mendelian inheritance, mitochondria and chloroplasts.

Linked genes, recombination and genetic maps in eukaryotes.

Bacterial and viral genetics. Analysis of the fine structure of the gene, the experiments of Seymour Benzer .

The genetic code. Demonstration that the genetic code is a triplet code, the experiments by Crick and Brenner. Deciphering the genetic code. Characteristics of the genetic code.

Gene mutations. Chromosomal mutations: variation in chromosome structure and number.

Transposable elements: characteristics of transposable elements, transposable elements in bacteria, eukaryotic transposable elements. The discovery of the transposable elements, the experiments of di Barbara McClintock. Thasposable elements as vectors to obtain transgenic organisms.

The recombinant DNA technology: DNA coning, restriction enzymes, agarose gel elecrophoresis, restriction maps, construction of genomic libraries, PCR.

Regulation of gene expression.

Genetic analysis of development: the Drosophila model.

Readings/Bibliography

Any textbook of Genetics pulished after 2020.

 

Reading and analyses of the following scientific articles

he Significance of Pneumococcal Types. [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20474956/]Griffith F.J Hyg (Lond). 1928 Jan;27(2):113-59

STUDIES ON THE CHEMICAL NATURE OF THE SUBSTANCE INDUCING TRANSFORMATION OF PNEUMOCOCCAL TYPES : INDUCTION OF TRANSFORMATION BY A DESOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID FRACTION ISOLATED FROM PNEUMOCOCCUS TYPE III. [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19871359/]Avery OT, Macleod CM, McCarty M.J Exp Med. 1944 Feb 1;79(2):137-58

Molecular structure of nucleic acids; a structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid. [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/13054692/]WATSON JD, CRICK FH.Nature. 1953 Apr 25;171(4356):737-8.

THE REPLICATION OF DNA IN ESCHERICHIA COLI. [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16590258/]Meselson M, Stahl FW.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1958 Jul 15;44(7):671-82.

Gene action in the X-chromosome of the mouse (Mus musculus L.). [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/13764598/]LYON MF.Nature. 1961 Apr 22;190:372-3.

Teaching methods

lectures with ppt 

Assessment methods

oral exam preceded by a brief written test with two genetic problems to be solved

Teaching tools

power point slides

Office hours

See the website of Giovanni Perini