Course Contents

Chromosomes, Mendelian inheritance and DNA as a carrier of genetic information; double-helical structure of DNA; forces stabilizing nucleic acid structure; super-coiled DNA; nucleic acid fractionation and sequencing; chemical synthesis of oligonucleotides; DNA polymerase; DNA replication – general aspects and enzymes involved; prokaryotic and eukaryotic replication mechanisms; repair of DNA; recombination and mobile genetic elements; DNA methylation. RNAs and their role in protein synthesis; RNA polymerase and transcription; regulation of transcription in prokaryotes; post-transcriptional processing; the genetic code; structure of transfer RNA; ribosome structure; translational process, protein synthesis inhibitors; control of eukaryotic translation post-translational modification; protein degradation; non-ribosomal polypeptide synthesis; structure and genomic organization, regulation of eukaryotic expression: cell differentiation; oncogenes and cancer. Effect of chromatin structure on transcription. An outline of DNA cloning experiment; cloning vectors including plasmids, bacteriophaes, cosmids, YAC vectors; shuttle and expression vectors; gene splicing, genomic libraries; screening methods of gene libraries; DNA cloning methods, tumor induction (Ti) plasmids; Southern and Northern blotting; chromosome walking; site specific mutagenesis; potentials of recombinant DNA technology; PCR; production of proteins; tissue culture techniques; transgenic organisms and gene therapies; restriction fragment length polymorphism and disease detection (e.g. cystic fibrosis); human genome project; social considerations.

Course Synopsis

In this course, starting from the nature of chromosomes, DNA and RNA, student will be exposed to nucleic acid sequencing and processes of transcription and translation. This course is designed to distill in comprehensible way, the mysteries of recombinant DNA technology and its role in biotechnology. This course aims to let the students know about contribution of recombinant DNA technology to our understanding of gene function, biological processes and human genetics. In this course DNA cloning methods, site directed mutagenesis, PCR, RFLP and other related techniques will be discussed in detail.