BIOLOGIA MOLECOLARE

The main purpose, of this teaching course, is to provide students with the knowledge and stimulate the ability to understand the topics concerning macromolecules and the biological mechanisms that characterize them. Macromolecules, nucleic acids and proteins, will be studied from a structural and functional point of view. The biological mechanisms of DNA duplication, RNA transcription, protein translation and their associated regulatory mechanisms will be studied with the goal of understanding the flow of genetic information and the importance of its maintenance and control in the cell. The ability to apply the knowledge and understanding of students will emerge from the ability to discuss and participate in lectures dedicated to exercises and in-depth studies on the topics covered. In this context, thanks to the discussion with colleagues and with the teacher, students will be stimulated in their autonomy of judgment and communication skills. The ability to learn will be assessed through the discussion of students with the teacher during the lessons, the exercises and the final examination.

The teaching is held with lectures using slides which will be uploaded on Studium platform for students. Attendance of the course is mandatory to the extent provided by the study programme.

Should teaching be carried out in mixed mode or remotely, it may be necessary to introduce changes with respect to previous statements, in line with the programme planned and outlined in the syllabus.

BIOLOGICAL ORGANIZATION. Cell structure and function. Difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. CELL ORGANIZATION. Structure and function of plasma membrane: membrane transport and cells communication. Cell compartmentalization: organization in specialized organells function as mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, peroxisomes, lysosomes. Cell structure and mobility: cytoskeleton and organization in microfilamentes, microtubules, intermediate filaments. CELL CYCLE. Mitosis and meiosis. Control system of cell cyle. Mechanisms of cell death. MACROMOLECULES STRUCTURE. Physico-chemical properties of nucleic acid. Structure, topology and conformation of DNA helix. Structure, function and RNA classification. Protein structure and post-translation. Macromolecules interactions. Carbohydrates and lipid biological role. GENOME AND GENE ORGANIZATION. DNA organization inside a cell. Eukaryotic chromatin structure. Biological significance of coding and non coding sequences of the genome. Features of prokaryotic and eukaryotic genes. DNA REPLICATION. General features. Specialization of DNA polymerases. Replication fork and DNA synthesis. Replication initiation, termination and regulation: comparison between prokaryotes and eukaryotes. DNA MUTATION AND DNA REPAIR. DNA damage, replication errors and repair mechanisms. DNA TRANSCRIPTION. Specialization of RNA polymerase. Transcription factors and promoters. Transcription initiation and termination: comparison between prokaryotes and eukaryotes. RNA processing: caping, polyA generation, splicing, editing. Spliceosome. SYNTHESIS OF PROTEINS. General features. The genetic code. Aminoacids and tRNA binding. Translation machinery: structure and function of tRNA and ribosome. Protein synthesis initiation, elongation and termination: comparison between prokaryotes and eukaryotes. GENE EXPRESSION REGULATION. Gene transcription initiation control by positive and negative regulators. Gene regulation mediated by RNAs. Prokaryotic gene regulation: operons, regulation of lysis/lysogeny in lambda phage. Eukaryotic gene regulation: enhancer, insulator, silencer, hystone modification, nucleosomes remodelling. MOLECULAR BIOLOGY TECHNIQUES. Electrophoresis. Cloning. PCR and real-time PCR, microarray, sequencing.

1)B. Alberts et al., Molecular Biology of the Cells, Garland Science.

2) G. Karp, Biologia Cellulare e Molecolare, 5 ed, Edises.

3)Watson et al., Biologia molecolare del gene, 7 ed, Zanichelli.