Objectives and competences

The course offers a general overview about the mechanisms and processes involved in intracellular flow of genetic information.

Students are supposed to develop their capacity to critically analyse situations related with the storage, use and regulation of genetic information. Students are also stimulated to acquire capacity to plan and execute simple procedures on the manipulation of nucleic acids. Basic skills on bibliographic search and interpretation are developed

Teaching Methodologies

Lectures, tutorials, laboratory work

Syllabus

Lectures:
Transcription; Types of RNA; RNA processing, introns and alternative splicing.
Translation and genetic code; Protein synthesis
General mechanisms of gene regulation – prokaryotes and eukaryotes
DNA protection and reparation

Lab:
Bioinformatics; Molecular cloning; Transcriptomic analysis of gene expression;  Phenotypic analysis of the regulation of the lactose operon of Escherichia coli.
Tutorials: Active learning topic, novel in each course edition.