Biology 2C03: Genetics

Course description:

An understanding of the principles of Mendelian inheritance is a prerequisite to the conceptual understanding of all fields of Biology. The material covered in this course builds upon topics covered in first year Biology, which was an introduction to heredity and the molecular biology of information transfer from DNA to RNA to protein. We take a more detailed examination of how traits are transmitted and how a genotype is expressed as a phenotype. We also explore aspects of chromosomal mapping, linkage, crosses, and mutations and begin to look at genome mapping projects and the application of information from the genome. We also take a look at genes and alleles at the population level and discuss factors that change allele frequency. We also take a close look at polygenic traits, those traits that are determined by multiple genes which include plant growth, human height, and disease. Underlying our examination of inheritance and the expression of phenotype is an understanding of the molecular mechanisms that regulate gene expression.

Course objectives:

By the end of this course students should be able to,

• define and solve genetics problems that include data interpretation and problems of statistics and probability.
• interpret, analyze and design scientific experiments
• demonstrate verbal communication skills through regular discussions
• have  a scientific attitude towards research and data gathering by practicing the scientific methods: formulation of a hypothesis, experimental testing of predictions.

Course syllabus: Biology 2C03 syllabus