Biology C3032 / W4032: Genetics - Fall 2006 - Hamilton 702
Tuesday & Thursday  1:10-2:25 pm

Supporting Material:

Some suggestions regarding where to find the material in the main reference books is provided in the Supporting Materials Web Page

Assignment for graduate students

Office Hours:

Dr. Chalfie: Friday from 2-4 as well as any day from 4:30 - 5:30pm (1018 Fairchild).

TA - Xiaoyin (Robert) Chen ([email protected])  - Monday 5:00pm - 6:00pm (1014 Fairchild)

TA - Lynn Biderman ([email protected])  - Wednesday 2:00pm - 3:00pm (900 Fairchild)

Bulletin Board (answers to submitted questions)

Syllabus

Calculating grades for the tests

Recommended readings:

There are no required readings for the course, but you may find the following useful. The bookstore has ordered several of the books (*) and the rest are on reserve at the library (Fairchild 601)

o        *Introduction to Genetic Analysis, 8th edition, A.J.F. Griffiths et al. 2005, Freeman. Diane K. Lavett has written a student companion text.

o        As an alternate use: *Genetics: From Genes to Genomes, Second Edition, L.H. Hartwell et al., 2000, McGraw-Hill.

o        *Genetic Switch (3rd edition): Phage Lambda Revisited, M. Ptashne, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press (highly recommended for the lambda lecture).

The following books may also prove useful

General Texts:

§         Strickberger, Genetics, 3rd edition, 1985

§         Goodenough, Genetics, 3rd edition, Saunders, 1984

§         Ayala and Kiger, Modern Genetics, 2nd edition, 1984;

§         Zubay, Genetics, Benjamin/Cummings, 1987;

§         Anderson and Ganetsky, An Electronic Companion to Genetics, Cogito, 1997

§         *Hawley and Walker, Advanced Genetic Analysis: Finding Meaning in the Genome, Blackwell, 2003

Molecular Genetics:

§         Stent and Calendar, Molecular Genetics: An Introductory Narrative, 2nd ed., Freeman, 1978

§         Lewin, Genes VIII, Prentice Hall, 2003

Web sites:

·         Mendel Web: http://www.mendelweb.org/

·         Microbial Genetics Problems Co-op: http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/~smaloy/MicrobialGenetics/problems/

·         Virtual Library - Genetics: http://www.ornl.gov/TechResources/Human_Genome/genetics.html

·         ESP foundations of Classical Genetics: http://www.esp.org/foundations/genetics/classical/

Reviews:

·         Annual Review of Genetics

·         Trends in Genetics

·         Current Opinion in Genetics and Development

·         Nature Reviews Genetics

Problem Sets

The best way to gain an understanding of genetics is by solving problems on the material. Links to problems that you are expected to solve are provided in the syllabus below. Many questions come from past exams. Brief answers are provided, but you should try to solve the problems before looking at the answers. We will collect your answers covering the previous week's questions on Tuesdays during September. We will not grade your answers, but will give you feedback on them. You may also find the problems in Griffiths et al. useful. The answers to these problems are in the back of the text or in Lavett (on reserve in the library).

Material that is distributed in class will also be available at this web site.

Recitation Sections

Optional recitation sections will be held during the week before each exam so that you can discuss the problem sets and other course material. Times and locations will be given in class.

 

Exams and grades

There will be four exams worth 100 points each (three during the semester and a cumulative final). Only the best three exam grades will be used for your grade. You don't have to take all four exams, but you must take three since there will be NO make-up exams. (The option to drop one grade does not mean that if you miss an exam, you can drop a second exam grade.)

Syllabus

Topic

Date

Title

Support Material

Prob.

1

9/5

Introduction: What Mendel Started

Mendel paper

Diamond paper

 

2

9/7

Background: DNA to Protein

Handout

 

3

9/12

Model Systems and the Meaning of Wild Type

 

 

4

9/14

Obtaining Mutants I: Screens and Selections

Handout

Using simple probability rules

 

5

9/19

Obtaining Mutants II: Mutagens

Handout

 

6

9/21

Building on Mendel: Alleles and Complementation

 

 

7

9/26

Deviations from Mendel I: Sex linkage

Handout

 

8

9/28

Deviations from Mendel II: Linkage

Handout

Textbook Method

Chalfie's Approach

The first chromosomal map

 

9

10/3

Recombination Mapping

 

Detailed Outline

OMIM

 

 

10/5

Exam on lectures 1-7

 

10

10/10

Generality and Limits of Recombination

 

 

11

10/12

Mechanism of Recombination

Detailed Outline

 

12

10/17

Characterizing Gene Expression

Handout

 

13

10/19

Reverse Genetics; Genomes and Genomics

 

 

14

10/24

Transposons and their Uses

 

 

 

15

10/26

Gene Function and Phenotype I: Loss of Function

 

 

 

10/31

Exam on lectures 8-14

 

 

16

11/2

Gene Function and Phenotype II: Gain of Function

 

 

17

11/9

Gene Interactions I: Suppressors and Enhancers

 

 

18

11/14

Gene Interactions II: Redundancy

Thomas paper

 

19

11/16

Gene Interactions III: Epistasis

 

 

20

11/21

Bacterial Gene Regulation

 

 

21

11/28

Lambda

 

 

22

11/30

Eukaryotic Gene Regulation

 

 

 

12/5

Exam on lectures 15-21

 

23

12/7

Epigenesis

 

 

 

12/19

Final Exam in Room 702 Hamilton at 1:10pm