Download Concepts of Genetics

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!
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?
Identical twins have
the same genes
Phenotypes result from genes
and environmental factors
Human diversity:
Our unique genetic
identity
Our genetic relatedness
Medicine becomes personalized
A new, molecular understanding of disease
Metabolic diseases
Marfan syndrome
Huntington’s Disease
Sickle cell
disease
The foods we eat
How did our foods originate?
Are genetically modified foods a good idea?
Flavr Savr
tomatoes
Monsters???
Golden rice
Our understanding of
life’s history
Credit: nbii.gov
This is not the first genetic century
Civilization depended on man’s (unwitting) manipulation of
genetics
Wheat, peas, olives
Corn, beans, squash
Southwestern Asia
8500 BC
Mesoamerica
by 3500 BC
Rice, millet
China
7000 BC
Civilizations depend on
cereal crops
Potatoes
Andes
by 3500 BC
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