1. komponenta

Lecture type	Total
Lectures	30
Seminar	15

* Load is given in academic hour (1 academic hour = 45 minutes)

The topic of the course is the introduction to model organisms through great discoveries in molecular biology.
Course content
Introduction: what are model organisms, why are they used, general characteristics of model organisms.
Escherichia coli as a model organism: survey of the biology and genome of E. coli, pathogenic strains, processes of conjugation, transformation and transduction, E. coli in genetics and biochemistry
Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model organism: mating types and their switch; discoveries on cell cycle, yeast artificial chromosomes, microarray techniques and two hybrid assay
Slime mold Dyctiostelium: life cycle, chemotaxis and migration, cell differentiation, model in cell signalling
Caenorhabditis elegans: biology, discovery of apoptosis and gene silencing
Fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster: establishment of chromosomal theory, transposons and jumping genes, P element and mutagenesis
Drosophila as a model in developmental biology: regulation of early embryonic development
Danio rerio as a vertebrate model; zebra fish in embryology studies, as a model for human diseases and in toxicology studies; morpholino sequences as a tool for reverse genetic studies
Xenopus laevis and tropicalis as model organisms, positive and negative characteristics, experiments leading to the discovery of embryonic development principles and cell cycle mechanism, lump brush chromosomes, transgenic animals
Mouse as a model in biomedicine and investigations of human disease, production of transgenic mice; isolation of embryonic stem cells
Animal cell culture: basic principles of culturing cells in vitro, types of investigations done on cell culture, investigations on cytotoxicity, tumorigenesis, senescence, apoptosis, differentiation,.
Arabidopsis thaliana as a model: principles of early embryonal development in plants, production of transgenic plants
Plant cell culture: basic conditions of plant cell culture, different types of plant cultures, use of plant cultures in biotechnology, production of recombinant plants

Seminars
Each student should present a seminar as a presentation of a discovery in molecular biology as a consequence of an experimental work on model organism.

Outcomes
to explain the characteristics of each of model organisms which made them a model in molecular biology
to explain specific biological processes discovered on model organism on examples of significant discoveries done on model organisms
to connect the principles, conditions and processes characteristic for use of certain model organism with mechanisms and methods of its use in investigations
to analyse positive and negative characteristics of model organism for certain investigation
to discuss the possibilities of the use of model organisms in different fields of investigations in biology: developmental biology, biochemistry, genetics, toxicology, biomedicine, in production of genetic modificated plants etc.

1. Alberts B, Johnson A, Lewis J, Raff M, Roberts K, Walter P (2002):Molecular biology of the cell, Garland Publishing, New York.
   Cooper G. M (2000): The cell: a molecular approach, ASM Press Washington DC, Sinauer Ass. Sunderland Massachusetts.
   Hartwell LH, Hood L, Goldberg ML, Reynolds AE, Silver LM, Veres RC (2004): Genetics, from genes to genomes, 2. iz., McGrawHill

Izborni predmeti - Mandatory studij - Molecular Biology

Izborni predmeti - Mandatory studij - Biology