The aim of the course is the kwnoledge of the molecular mechanisms regulating cell life.
Teaching Methods
lectures
Type of Assessment
oral examination
Course program
The organization of the genome. The dogma of biology. The structure of nucleic acids. The mechanism of DNA complexing and DNA denaturation.
DNA replication. The enzymes that participate in the duplication of DNA. The replication fork and the mechanism of initiation of DNA duplication in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. The telomerase.
The repair of errors on the DNA molecule.
Recombination of DNA.
DNA sequencing by the Sanger method.
PCR and Real-Time PCR.
The mechanism of transcription.
Maturation of tRNA, rRNA and mRNA (addition of 5 'cap, splicing, polyA tail, editing). Alternative splicing.
The genetic code, translation and mutations. Codons, the mechanism of protein synthesis, incorporation of selenocysteine, molecular chaperones, the proteasome.
The control of gene expression: Epigenetic mechanisms, transcription factors, RNA interference, translational control (example of ferritin and the transferrin receptor). The long non-coding RNAs.
The post-translational fate of proteins. The cytoplasmic pathway (transport of proteins in the nucleus, mitochondrion, peroxisomes). The vescicular pathway (transport of proteins in the reticulum). N-glycosylation of proteins in the RE.
Vescicular traffic: Constitutive, regulated secretory pathway and endocytic pathway.
Glucose transporters and types of glucose transport.
The extracellular matrix and integrins.
The cell junctions.
Signal transduction: generalities. The tyrosine-kinase receptors (for example, the insulin signaling pathway), G protein-coupled receptors, steroid hormone receptors, second messengers. Examples of cross-talk between receptors.
Cell death: apoptosis, necrosis, anoikis.
Autophagy.
Cancer cells. Oncogenes and tumour suppressors, characteristics of tumour cells, Warburg effect.
Genetically modified mice (Knock out, knock in mice)