MEES 680 - Cell and Molecular Biology for Environmental Scientists - Genes to Ecosystems
Course will be available by IVN and will be web-based using CourseForum.
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Prerequisites: Undergraduate biochemistry and/or cell biology
Instructors: Allen R. Place, Rose Jagus, Tsetso Bachvaoff, Paul Gugger, Louis Plough
Suggested texts: Cell biology by the Numbers, Ron Milo & Ron Phillips, Illustrated by Nigel Orme
Atomic Evidence. David S. Goodselll
Phylogenetic trees made easy. Barry G Hall.
If you need a classic textbook, both of these are available as electronic downloads.
Course Organization: There will be two written examinations available on CourseForum, weekly homework assignments, one assignment on molecular phylogenetic analysis and a final project. We will discuss several recent papers in class.
Grading:
First Exam: 10%
Second Exam: 10%
Student Paper Discussion: 15%
Phylogeny Assignment: 15%
Project: 20%
Attendance/Participation: 30%
Syllabus:
The Cogs in the Machinery of Life - A Gallery of Size, Shape & Charge
August 29, Lecture 1: AP: Molecules of Life
August 31, Lecture 2: APL Carbohydrates and Lipids
September 5, Labor Day - No Class
September 7, Lecture 3: AP: Amino Acids
September 12, Lecture 4: AP: Nucleic Acid and Metabolites
The Machinery of Life - Making DNA, Making RNA, Making Proteins, Making Membranes, Making a Cell
September 14, Lecture 5: AP: Chromatic and Nucleus
September 19, Lecture 6: AP: Protein Sorting & Trafficking
September 21, Lecture 7: RJ: Making DNA
September 26, Lecture 8: RJ: Making RNA
September 28, Lecture 9: RJ: Transcriptional Regulation & Splicing
October 3, Lecture 10: RJ: Organelles
October 5, Lecture 11: RJ: Translation Part 1
October 10, Lecture 12: RJ: Translation Part 2
October 12, Lecture 13: RJ: Non-coding RNAs
October 17, Exam 1: The exam will place on CourseForum on October 17 at 8:00AM, answers must be uploaded by October 18 at 8:00AM
Are the Cogs and Machinery Shared and How do you know?
October 19, Lecture 14: TB: Next generation DNA sequencing
October 24, Lecture 15: TB: Bioinformatics and computational biology, sequence alignments, protein structure alignments, orthologues, paralogues, gene duplication, lateral gene transfer, data mining, phylogenetic trees, molecular versus physical taxonomy
October 26, Lecture 16: TB: Comparing Sequences and Making Phylogenetic Trees
Variation in the Machinery
October 31, Lecture 17: LP&PG: Using Variation for Population Studies
November 2, Lecture 18: LP&PG: Population and Landscape Genomics
November 7, Lecture 19: AP: Lateral and Horizontal Gene Transfer
November 9, Lecture 20: RJ: Symbiosis and Parasitism
November 14, Lecture 21: Microbiomes - Environmental and Gastrointestinal
Manipulating and Detecting the Machinery - The Researcher's Toolbox
November 16, Lecture 22: RJ: Basic molecular biological tools, Part I
November 21, Lecture 23: RJ: Basic molecular biological tools, Part II
November 24, Thanksgiving NO CLASSES
November 28: Exam 2: The exam will place on CourseForum on November 28 at 8:00 AM, answers must be uploaded by November 29 at 8:00 AM.
Modifications to the Machinery
November 30, Lecture 2: RJ: Phosphorylation
December 5, Lecture 25: AP: Ubiquitnation, sumolaytion, etc.
December 7, Student Project Presentations