Introduction to Genomics BL 3300/FW 3300 Welcome

Essential Details Credits: 3 Time: Monday, Wednesday and Friday 3 pm-4 pm Place: Forestry G002 Class Paper: –How will Genomics change my life? Note: Class paper presentations will be held between December 4th and 8th, 2006.

Why was this course proposed? Genomics is a new and very exciting area that has witnessed many new conceptual and technical advances. This information is vital to our day to day living. Such a course would also make our students competitive in current job market Bioinformatics majors needed this type of class and now all molecular biology major will need it too.

Course Description The main purpose of this course is to introduce concepts of human genomics that can also be applied to microbial, plant and animal genomes. The topics covered are Genes and genome organization Genome mapping DNA fingerprinting Gene tagging Bioinformatics Legal and Ethical aspects of genomics Genome evolution

Required Text Book Genomics –Philip N. Benfey and Alexander D. Protopapas (Pearson Prentice Hall) (For 2006 updates go to –Recent book –Up to date –Real genomics book –Ready made slides and space for notes –Updates available

Additional Reading Optional Reading material (No need to buy it) Genomes by T.A. Brown, 1999, John Wiley & Sons, NY Genes VIII by Benjamin Lewin, 2003, Oxford University Press Molecular Biology by Robert F. Weaver, 1999, McGraw-Hill Press Genome by Matt Ridley, Harper Collins, 2000

Grades Grading Point System A 94-90AB 89-85B 84-80BC 79-75C 74-70CD 69-60D < 59F Course point distribution Class participation10% (attendance, home work, quizzes, questions) Class paper10% (essay and powerpoint presentation) Mid-term30% Final 50%

Who is your instructor? Shekhar Joshi (Chandrashekhar P. Joshi) Associate Professor of PMG, SFRES Over 20 years of research experience –Molecular Genetics, Biotechnology, Bioinformatics 42 papers, 14 book chapters,65 presentations Teaching molecular genetics at MTU since 1998

Where and when can you find me? Room # 167, Forestry Building Office Hours: I am available between 9 am to 6 pm on all weekdays except –Tuesdays 2-3 pm and Thursday 2-3 pm when I teach FW5850 class and –MWF between 3-4 when I teach this BL3300/FW3300 class. Phone: Web site: For those who walk up from the main campus: Do call me or me before walking up the hill!

Class paper First, come up with a theme for your class paper You choose articles from the following magazines (or make your own choice) and find out some interesting articles related to Genomics that are published during last five years. –Time, Life, Discover, Science, Nature, Scientific American, Genetic Engineering News, National Geographic, US News…. Last Friday of every month, some of you will present to the class which articles you have chosen and why? You will copy up to ten such articles, review them and prepare a 20-minute power point presentation that will be presented to the class during the December 4th and 8th, Your peers and I will evaluate your presentations. You will also write an essay (~10 pages long) based on all such recent news items that you have collected and submit it to me along with your Power point presentation by December 4th.

What is genomics? Study of genomes

What is the genome? Entire genetic compliment of an organism

How many types of genomes exist? Prokaryotic genomes Eukaryotic Genomes Nuclear Genomes Mitochondrial genomes Choloroplast genomes

Why we should study genomes? Life’s little book of instructions DNA blue print of life! Human body has cells and each cell has 6 billion base pairs (A, C, G, T) A hidden language determines which proteins should be made and when This language is common to all organisms

What can genome sequence tell us? Everything about organism's life Its developmental program Disease resistance or susceptibility History Where you are going?

How are human genomes organized? 3% coding and rest of it junk (repetitive DNA). Nuclear and mitochondrial You are 99.99% similar to your neighbor

Why human genome? We want to know about ourselves How do we develop? How do we struggle, survive and die? Where are we going and where we came from? How similar are we to apes, trees, and yeast?

How will we change because of Genomics? You will control the destiny of this planet Big changes in our life Biotechnology: more products GMOs: More food-More problems? Our society will not be the same Individualized medicine Gene therapy Immortality? Disease free life?

Are we playing GOD? Central dogma in Molecular Biology