Unit PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY

Course
Biology
Study-unit Code
50092605
Curriculum
Bionutrizionistico
Teacher
Christoph Andreas Gehring
Teachers
  • Christoph Andreas Gehring
Hours
  • 47 ore - Christoph Andreas Gehring
CFU
6
Course Regulation
Coorte 2020
Offered
2020/21
Learning activities
Caratterizzante
Area
Discipline del settore biomolecolare
Academic discipline
BIO/04
Type of study-unit
Obbligatorio (Required)
Type of learning activities
Attività formativa monodisciplinare
Language of instruction
English
Contents
Introduction to Systems Biology and “omics” (genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics) approaches to. Specific opportunities and limits of big data approaches in biology and biotechnology. The roles and limits of model species in general and the case of Arabidopsis thaliana. ¿Computational approaches to, and tools for the interpretation of “omics” data. Methods to infer function from transcriptome and proteome data. Form data analyses to data interpretation; inferences form expression correlation and promotor analyses.¿The value and making of mutants as tools for the study of molecular function and the analyses of metabolic pathways and signaling transduction networks. ¿Identification of functional domains (e.g. catalytic centers or ligand binding sites) based on amino acid sequence motifs and structural modeling. Experimental testing of structural predictions and the use of site directed mutagenesis to establish structure-function relationships. Conserved functional motifs and homology modeling to predict hidden moonlighting functional sites.¿¿The course will provide an overview and specific examples of systems based research approaches and tools for the interpretation of large biological data sets. In addition, we will be reviewing tools that enable the identification and molecular characterization of function.
Reference texts
We do not use a specific textbook - but many of the standard textbooks in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry will serve as a good starting point for the topics covered. Most of these topics are subject of papers available from PubMed.
Educational objectives
The first and foremost goal is to understand and apply methods and tools available to analyze molecular data in the public domain. The course should enable students to make use of the data e.g. to infer biological function.
Prerequisites
The prerequisite is a reasonable understanding of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry - and in particular a knowledge of gene structure and function.
Teaching methods
The course contains lectures, on-line exercises (so bring your laptop computer to class) and presentations/seminars.
Other information
As emphasized, the course is designed to introduce the students to the theory and applications of systems biology and structure-function analysis and their applications to biotechnology. The students will also learn to critically evaluate experimental designs and learn how to cohesively formulate experimental programs relevant in contemporary molecular biology and biotechnology.
Learning verification modality
Students will have to give a presentation that will be assessed and will do three assignments that will be marked.
The oral examination at the end serves the purpose of verifying that the student has grasped the theoretical of the background of the assignments.
Extended program
NA
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