2018/2019

2018/2019

DM270

BIO/18 (GENETICS)

DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY "LAZZARO SPALLANZANI"

EXPERIMENTAL AND APPLIED BIOLOGY

Bioanalisi

1°

2nd semester (01/03/2019 - 14/06/2019)

6

48 lesson hours

Italian

ORAL TEST

ACHILLI ALESSANDRO (titolare) - 6 ECTS

Students must have acquired the contents of Genetics and Molecular Biology, which will be crucial to understand how to study the molecular, phylogenetic and functional characteristics of DNA.

This course will focus on the recent advances in molecular genetics and on their application to investigate nuclear/cytoplasmic genomes. During the first part, we will explore the basis of molecular phylogenetics (focusing on the human mitogenome, which is also target of the practical training) whose objective is to reconstruct the tree-like pattern that describes the evolutionary relationships between the organisms, with applications in the fields of medical, forensics and population genetics. The second part provides an overview of molecular genetics techniques to study and characterize entire genomes, with implications in the field of biomedicine and biotechnology.
At the end of the course students will be able to apply scientific methodology to solve problems of molecular genetics and to participate in group discussion on a topic of research.

Introduction to genomics. Genomes, transcriptomes and proteomes.
Origin and evolution of genomes. Prokaryotic genome and lateral gene transfer. Extranuclear inheritance and the genetic/molecular characteristics of cytoplasmic genomes. Human mtDNA as an example of animal mitochondrial genome.
Enzymes for DNA manipulation: DNA polymerases (and PCR), nucleases, ligases. Optimized methods for total nucleic acid extraction and quantification. PCR amplification and RFLP analysis. The application of molecular genetics approaches to study the human mtDNA: Cybrids and mitochondria dysfunctions; RFLP analyses and whole genome sequencing.
Whole genome sequencing (WGS): automated classical method (Sanger); shotgun and hierarchic approaches. Gene libraries and cloning vectors. Next generation sequencing (NGS) systems: e.g. Illumina sequencing and Ion torrent.
Molecular markers: classification (microsatellites and SNPs) and screening (Chip).
Analysis of genomic sequences. Looking for an Open Reading Frame (ORF). Assigning a gene function: computer-based and experimental approaches. Forward and reverse genetics (e.g.ATM).

Face to face lessons and practical training.

BIOTECNOLOGIE MOLECOLARI (Principi e tecniche) Seconda edizione (Brown TA – Zanichelli)Presentation slides will be crucial for the final exam.

Oral exam.

Oral exam.