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Module 2 - Principles of Molecular Biology

This module consists of four on-line lectures, reading from chapters 1-3 of the textbook, an on-line slide set, one learn-as-you-do assignment, and one cooperative learning assignment. These components may be completed in any order you choose.

Lecture Lengths:

  • Genes -48 min
  • DNA - 44 min
  • Proteins - 20 min
  • Central Dogma - 36 min

Assignments:

  • Virtual FlyLab - 100 pts
  • Learning Teams - 25 pts

Exam

  • Value - 200 pts

Total value for the module - 325 pts

Learning Objectives

History

  • Know the key individuals in the development of DNA technology and their contributions.
  • Be able to describe the key experiments in the development of DNA technology and the conclusions that were drawn from them.

Genes

  • Be able to define what a gene is.
  • Know the difference between the genotype and the phenotype of an individual organism
  • Know what is meant by the heterozygous and homozygous conditions
  • Know the difference between a dominant and a recessive allele
  • Understand the relationship between genes, DNA and chromosomes
  • Be able to use Punnet's Square analysis to predict the outcome of a mating

Nucleic Acids

  • Know the chemical make up of nucleotides
  • Be able to describe how the nucleotide building blocks in a DNA molecule are linked together
  • Understand the significance of hydrogen bonding in DNA structure
  • Know the rules for base pairing
  • Understand the semiconservative nature of replication and be able to name at least one enzyme involved in this process
  • Understand how DNA structure explains the fidelity of replication
  • Be able to describe the structure of the DNA double helix
  • Know the chemical differences between DNA and RNA molecules

Proteins

  • Understand the nature and significance of the peptide bond
  • Know the chemical make up of the amino acid building blocks
    • It is not necessary to memorize the individual structures of the 20 amino acids
    • But you should what parts of the amino acid structure are common to all of the amino acids and what parts are different

Central Dogma

  • Understand how information is stored in the DNA molecule (i.e. genetic code)
  • Know what is meant by codon degeneracy and how it arises
  • Understand the chemical make up and structure of the ribosome
  • Know the difference between translation and transcription
  • Understand the differing roles of mRNA, r RNA and tRNA in translation
  • Be able to predict the protein product of a gene from its DNA sequence