Izmir Institute of Technology CMS

This course presents the fundamental principles of the biology of microorganisms with emphasis on prokaryotes. It covers structure, metabolism, growth and its control, genomics, and ecology of microorganisms. Upon completion of this course you should have a better understanding and the knowledge of the diversity of prokaryotes with regard to their structure, metabolism and physiology, and also of growth reqirements and evolution of prokaryotes and their role in the ecosystem.

The course will cover some fundamental concepts in molecular genetics of eukaryotes in details. Model organisms will be introduced at the beginning of the course followed by the discussion of genetics screens that are typically used to identify and characterize new genes in eukaryotes. Replication will be lectured with more attention being paid to the differences between prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Lectures on transcription and translation will focus on cis- and trans-acting factors specific for eukaryotes, avoiding the basic biochemistry covered elsewhere. In addition, students will be encouraged to use theoretical knowledge in research by evaluating and presenting a research article as a group. 

The course will cover some of the databases available in biology such as NCBI and SwissProt. It will also demystify computational tools like BLAST, FASTA and other search algorithms currently employed in biological research. Finally, many tools which can be employed in projects will be explained in varying detail. Among these are multiple sequence alignment, building of pylogenetic trees, predicting secondary information about genes and proteins. Prediction of sub cellular localization of proteins, gene structure prediction, and discovery of putative functional domains of proteins are among the information that may be predicted.

The course aims to teach basic concepts of Biology, Molecular Biology, and Genetics for the Food Engineering Students.