We are defined by the information in our genetic material. Our genes provide a blueprint for the production of proteins that allow our cells and bodies to perform a diverse range of complex functions. In 1957, Francis Crick proposed the Central Dogma of molecular biology and described the flow of genetic information from DNA to RNA to protein.
Despite their apparent complexity, humans have only around 20,000 protein-coding genes, about two-thirds the number found in grapes. At the simplest level, viruses contain only a handful of genes - influenza virus has 11 - and rely on the ability to hijack the function of genes in the infected host. Bacteria normally have a few thousands genes and the geneticists favourite, the fruitfly Drosophila, has around 15,000.
This course will focus on how this genetic information is stored and how it can be moved from one form to another, ie from DNA to RNA to protein. In particular we will look at how genes are organised, how genetic information is packaged into a cell; how DNA is replicated; how RNA transcription occurs; and how functional proteins are translated. Throughout the course the molecular processes being discussed will be highlighted using examples from both eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms.
An excellent complement to this course is Pb1.
Learning outcomes
- To develop an appreciation of what genes are, how they are organised and how the genetic material fits into a cell;
- To gain an awareness of some of the key experiments and investigations that underpin our understanding of how genes are organised and how they function;
- To be able to describe the basic processes through which the information in genetic material is converted into functional protein molecules.
