Handbook

This course is available to Advanced Science students, or as an advanced option for students in other UNSW programs. This advanced course differs from MICR3021 Microbial Genetics by providing additional laboratory components within a laboratory group dedicated to the course, a choice of laboratory assessment, and a extended lecture-based assessment tasks (involving content and number of questions). The course aims to extend fundamental concepts and principles of microbial genetics to an advanced level, and is intended to be particularly useful for students who have a strong interest in microbial genetics. The course covers fundamentally important and well established concepts in microbial genetics, while emphasizing the latest discoveries that have emerged from contemporary research efforts in the field (presented by senior researchers in the School). Topics may include genetics of bacteriophages, bacteria, archaea and yeast, mutation and evolution, mechanisms of gene transfer, gene regulation and adaptive responses, and genomics and functional genomics of individual microorganisms and whole microbial communities. The practical component includes contemporary wet-lab microbial genetics experiments that complement lecture material. The practical also emphasizes interaction between demonstrators and students, facilitated through a rich variety of concept tutorials that cover diverse topics including experiments and outcomes involving bacteria, archaea, or yeast involving transposon mutagenesis, gene library construction, gene complementation using recombinant plasmids, gene expression and regulation studies, UV mutagenesis and DNA repair, restriction/modification systems, promoter rescue experiments, and a variety of gene exchange techniques. The socioeconomic impact of microbial genetics is also discussed.