Welcome to BI 142 The Genetic Century Instructor: Dr. Clare O’Connor Office hours: F 3-5 in Higgins 478 or by appointment Teaching Assistant: Karen Zhu

Course syllabus is posted on Canvas Links to course readings are incorporated into calendar: Scientific American articles Concepts of Genetics (open access biology text) Scitable (Nature Education Site) U. Utah Genetics Learning Center Others.... Lecture capture can be accessed through the Echo Center Note - the syllabus is dynamic and will undergo changes during the semester - Access it often!!

Course Grading Midterm exams (3 -100 points each) 300 Final exam 200 Online quizzes (10 points each) 50 (normalized) Clicker points (present for 75% questions) 50 (normalized) Class assignments 50 (normalized) Group presentations 100 (Genes in the news) “Bump” points based on class participation (cold calls)

Register your i-clicker on Canvas Some clicker practice!

you receive 10 points for completing it before the next class Quiz 1 – course concepts you receive 10 points for completing it before the next class

What are some of the issues that we will address in this class?

Our understanding of ourselves: Do our genes determine our destiny? Phenotypes result from genes and environmental factors Identical twins have the same genes

Our unique genetic identity Human diversity: Our unique genetic identity Our genetic relatedness

Medicine becomes personalized A new, molecular understanding of disease Marfan syndrome Metabolic diseases Huntington’s Disease Sickle cell disease

How did our foods originate? The foods we eat How did our foods originate? Are genetically modified foods a good idea? Golden rice Monsters??? Flavr Savr tomatoes

Our understanding of life’s history Credit: nbii.gov Our understanding of life’s history

This is not the first genetic century Civilization depended on man’s (unwitting) manipulation of genetics Corn, beans, squash Mesoamerica by 3500 BC Wheat, peas, olives Southwestern Asia 8500 BC Rice, millet China 7000 BC Potatoes Andes by 3500 BC Civilizations depend on cereal crops

In less than 100 years after Mendel discovered the basic principles of inheritance (1865), ….the first “molecular disease”, sickle cell anemia, was identified by Linus Pauling (1949) ….the structure of DNA was described as a double helix by Watson and Crick (1953)

Genome: the complete genetic information of an organism The 21st century began with the draft sequence of the human genome Begun in 1990 Draft sequence - 2001 Completed - 2003 (exactly 50 years after the structure of DNA was solved) A human genome can now be sequenced for several thousand dollars

New kinds of therapies are being developed some are controversial Inner cell mass of human blastocysts is a source of embryonic stem cells Gene therapies use genetically modified viruses to introduce DNA

Genetic engineering continues to advance Cloned organisms Genetically modified organisms GloFish Drugs are produced by organisms grown in bioreactors

Genome sequencing costs have dropped significantly: The $1000 genome may not be far off

One view: A deterministic future based on genetics? 1997