15950 - Biology and Genetics

Course contents

MODULE 1 - GENETICS - PIERLUIGI STRIPPOLI

Gene and Genome
00. introduction to genetics. History of Genetics.
01. Molecular structure of DNA and genetic information.
02. Gene: concept, structure and function. Evolution of trhe concept of "gene" and "code". Alternative ways of gene functioning.
03. Genome.
04. Gene families.
05. Tandem repeats.
06. Dispersed repeats (LINE, SINE, LTR and DNA transposons).

Laws of Heredity
07. Human karyotype.
08. The experiments of Mendel. Dominance, recessivity, homozygosis and heterozygosis.
09. Autosomic dominant inheritance.
10. Autosomic recessive inheritance.
11. Codominance. ABO system. Substance H and Bombay phenotype.
12. Rh system. Maternal-fetal incompatibility for the Rh blood group.
13. Genetic determination of sex. X and Y chromosomes.
14. Sex-linked inheritance. X-chromosome inactivation.

15. Linkage and crossing-over.
16. Mitochondrial inheritance.
17. Epigenetics.

Genetic variability
18. Mutation.
19. Effects of gene mutation.
20. Chromosome structure mutations.
21. Translocations.
22. Genomic mutations. Trisomy 21.

Multifactorial inheritance
23. Multifactorial inheritance.
24. Multifactorial traits.

Population Genetics
25. Law of Hardy-Weinberg.
26. Forces affecting the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.

MODULE 2 - BIOLOGY - LUCIA BRODOSI

Introduction to the study of modern Biology

Introduction to biology. Cellular and Molecular Biology.

The properties of the living organisms. Levels of organization of the living matter. Living organisms and the environment.

The development of modern cell biology. A brief history of biology: from microscopy to system biology. The new objects of study of complex systems: genome, transcriptome, proteome, metabolome and interactome.

Methodologies in the genomics and post-genomics fields: tools in the study of biology and their possible applications in the medical field.

The basis of biological organization: the cellular environment. The cell theory. The cell: types and evolutionary strategies. The bacteria. The viruses.

Unity and diversity of life: classification criteria for living beings.

Organization of information material, information flow and regulation of gene expression

The interphase nucleus. Chromatin: structure and levels of nuclear organization.

Chromatin and gene regulation. The new codes: histone and nucleosomal.

The nucleus as a highly organized compartment: the hypothesis of chromosomal territories. The positional code and the epigenome: new frontiers in medicine.

The expression of information assets: the biological aspects of transcription and translation.

The new dogmas of biology: RNA genes or non-coding RNAs.

The complexity of gene expression regulation: levels and mechanisms. Transcriptional, post-transcriptional, translational and post-translational regulation in eukaryotes. The post-synthetic fate of protein molecules.

Reproduction of organisms and differentiation

Reproductive strategies of living beings: sexual and asexual reproduction. Reproduction in the human species: phenomenology and hints on the regulation of male and female gametogenesis.

Structure of mature gametes. Fertilization.

The early stages of development and differentiation. Control of gene expression and differentiation: origin and mechanisms of cellular diversification. Stem cells, cellular genealogies and biological memory. Determination and differentiation.

Space-time organization of differentiation events, hints of developmental biology. Interaction between cells and their environment. Cellular signalling. Examples of the relationship between cellular communication and differentiation.

A paradigm of cell differentiation: the formation of skeletal muscle.

Division and cell death

The cell division cycle: from phenomenology to regulation.

Molecular mechanisms of cell cycle regulation: promotion and blockade. Cyclin-dependent kinases and cyclins. Kinase inhibitors.

Examples of the relationship between cellular communication and cellular proliferation (EGF and Wnt signalling).

The processes of mitosis and meiosis: phenomenology and biological significance.

Cell survival. Cellular senescence: outline. Autophagy, apoptosis and necrosis. Molecular pathways and regulation.

 

Readings/Bibliography

G. De Leo, E. Ginelli, S. Fasano. Biologia e genetica. Edises. IV edizione/2020.

B. Alberts, K. Hopkin, A. Johnson, D. Morgan, M. Raff, K. Roberts, P. Walter. L'essenziale di biologia molecolare della cellula. Zanichelli. V edizione/2020.

Assessment methods

Oral exam.

Teaching tools

http://apollo11.isto.unibo.it/appunti.htm

Office hours

See the website of Pierluigi Strippoli

See the website of Lucia Brodosi