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	50 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

If all the students understand Finnish, the language is Finnish.

Evaluation and evaluation criteria

Numeric 1-5.
The examination max. 30 points and the essees max. 30 points.

Recommended year of study

4. year spring

Study materials

Textbook material: Lewin, B (2007) Genes XI , Alberts BM et al (2002) Molecular Biology of the Cell.The examinable textbook material is from Lewin, as summarized below, but in many instances Alberts presents the same material in a different and more accessible way, so you are encouraged to consult both texts. Background material: Lewin chapter 7-8. Non-examinable portions of chapter 11. Note that the examinable material is about eukaryotic gene expression, but many of its aspects can only be properly understood by reference to the relevant processes in bacteria, which are revised by the back-ground reading material. Examinable material: Lewin chapters 8, 9, 12-14, 21-25 and 11.18, 11.19, 11.21 and 11.22 of chapter 11. Accompanying material: Alberts Chapters 6, 7

Belongs to following study modules