This course is designed for graduate students with some background in prokaryotic molecular biology. The course will survey topics of basic prokaryotic molecular biology including transcription, translation, DNA and chromosome structure, replication, recombination, transposition, and regulation of gene expression. The Bacteriology Department offers several other courses that overlap some of the material covered by Bact. McClain and Sugden, Sem. Information about a variety of systems will be surveyed, and the way this information was obtained will be emphasized.
Techniques change so fast as to be out of date every few years.
The object of the course will be to outline the basic paradigms of prokaryotic molecular genetics and the patterns of thought that were and are necessary to solve such questions. Some reading of selected papers from the primary literature will be required. People who have not taken an undergraduate molecular biology or genetics course based on prokaryotes or who have not taken an undergraduate biochemistry course will be better served by Bact. Genetics 466 is not sufficient as a prerequisite. There will be several papers from the primary literature assigned for discussion.