BIOLOGY AND GENETICS - channel 2

The course aims to give the student an integrated vision of living cells and organisms, with particular regard to the mechanisms involved in basic cellular processes that regulate their activities. The student will have to know the processes of duplication and transmission of genetic information, cell proliferation, development, differentiation mechanisms, modalities and molecular bases of character transmission, transcription and modification of genetic information. At the end of the course the student must be able to demonstrate that has acquired the advanced biomedical technologies needed to understand normal and pathological phenomena.

Introduction to the Biology. Cell theory: cell and organisms. Structure and function of the proteins. The enzymes. Structural and functional organization of prokaryotic cells ( Bacteria and Archea). Structural and functional organization of eukaryotic cells : Cell membrane, Nucleus, Smooth and Rough reticulum, , the ribosomes, the lysosomes, the peroxisomes, the mitochondria, the Golgi apparatus, the cytoskeleton.Viruses.The nuclear genome: structure and function.The DNA in prokaryotes: the bacterial chromosome.The DNA structure: the double helix of Watson and Crick. Chemical composition of DNA. Chargaff Rules. The DNA in eukaryotes: Chromatin and chromosomes. The central dogma of molecular biology. From genotype to phenotype. Phenotype and environment. Cell proliferation: the cycle and related control mechanisms. DNA replication in prokaryotic and eukaryotes: molecular mechanisms. Replication of telomeres: Telomerase. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR): technology and its implications for Medicine. Classification and structure of eukaryotic genes (function promoters. exons, introns)and prokaryotic genes (structure operons) . The process of transcription in prokaryotes and eukaryotes: synthesis and processing of RNA [mRNA and non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) including the miRNA]. Regulation of gene expression in eukaryotes. The Genetic Code. Protein synthesis. Genetic mutations and epigenetic modifications of DNA. The human karyotype: normal and pathological karyotypes. Numeric chromosomal abnormalities: trisomies and monosomies. Mitotic and meiotic non-disjunction. Mosaicism. Cell division: binary fission, mitosis and meiosis. Male and female gametogenesis. Mode of transmission of genetic traits in humans. Mendelian Genetics. The limits of the Mendelian model. The Genome Projects. Role of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics in Medicine. Genetic diseases of Homo sapiens. Cell membranes: structure and function. The mechanisms of transport across the membrane: simple and facilitated diffusion. The active transport. Signal Transduction. The Hormones.The G-coupled receptors. Role of AMP_c . The intra- and extracellular molecular traffic. Role of microvesicles and exosomes. Mechanisms of interaction between cells: CAM (Cadherins and Integrins). The neoplastic phenotype: Oncogenes and Tumor suppressor genes. Differentiation and Apoptosis.

1. De Leo, Fasano and Ginelli Biology and Genetics, Ed. Edises

2. Alberts, Bray, Hopkin, Johnson ..., Essential Molecular Biology of the Cell, Ed Zanichelli

3. H. Lodish, A.Berk, CA Kaiser, M.Krieger et.al, Molecular Biology of the cell, Ed.Zanichelli

4. M. R.Cummings, Heritage, Ed. Edises

OF NOTE: It is important to use the most recent edition of each textbook .