Microbiology and Immunology

26MG712
3 graduate credits

Course Director: Dr. Richard Thompson

This course will provide individuals interested in Microbiology with a firm foundation to pursue their studies. In addition, the course will provide all biological science students with the fundamentals of prokaryotic biology that lie at the heart of modern molecular genetic techniques. The topics to be covered include the following. 1) Prokaryotic structure and function including bacterial growth, differences between Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, mechanisms of action of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance. 2) Gene regulation and protein synthesis including positive and negative regulation of transcription, operons (lac, arabinose, hut and attenuation in trp as examples) and transcription. Translation including approaches and problems in producing foreign proteins. 3) Gene transfer in bacteria including conjugation in Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, conjugation by F factor, Hfr strains and merodiploids. Transformation including natural competence in bacteria and artificial competence (i.e. technological transfer systems). Transduction including specialized vs. general transduction, bacteriophage genetics (lambda, M13, T-even/odd, SP6, P1 cre/lox). 4) Plasmids other than F including conjugative and non-conjugative plasmids, replication control and copy number, incompatibility in Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, BACs and PACs and the heat shock/SOS pathways. 5) Restriction and modification systems including different types of restriction enzymes (class I, II and III) and modification systems as protection mechanisms (DAM, DCM). In all cases emphasis will be on both the basic science behind these phenomena, and how they are exploited in modern research strategies.