General description

General objective is to gain knowledge at a molecular level from genes to active proteins, or in other words from genetic information to biological functions in prokaryotic cells and in some viruses with special emphasis in eukaryotic cells and species.

Learning outcomes

The course will impart advanced knowledge and understanding of the mechanisms and machinery of expression of eukaryotic genes, emphasizing mammals, but also introducing material, where relevant, from studies of plant, fungal and invertebrate genes as well as of bacterial and viral genes.

Contents

Topics to be covered include the basal transcription machinery, transcriptional regulation, chromatin and epigenetics, polyadenylation, RNA splicing, nucleocytoplasmic transport, translational regulation, RNA interference and RNA turnover, -omics and organellar gene expression. The course will be concept-based rather than methods-based, and it will link mechanistic knowledge to concepts from development, physiology and evolution.

Teaching methods

Teaching method	Contact	Online
Lectures	25 h	0 h

During the course students have to write six essees about the given topics. They are evaluated 1-5 points, and they represent 50% of the final maximal points of 60.

Teaching language

English

Finnish in the case all the students can speak Finnish.

Evaluation and evaluation criteria

Numeric 1-5.
Examination max. 30 points and essees max. 30 points, and to pass min. 30 points (1/5).

Recommended year of study

4. year spring

3rd period

Study materials

Textbook material: Jocelyn E. Krebs, Elliott S. Goldstein and  Stephen T. Kilpatrick, Lewin's GENES X  (2011). The examinable textbook material is from Lewin's GENES X as summarized below.  Although it is mostly about eukaryotic gene expression, many of its aspects can only be properly understood by reference to the relevant processes in bacteria or viruses. Examinable material: Lewin's GENES X chapters 19-30.

Belongs to following study modules