Department of Biology & Biochemistry, Unit Catalogue 2007/08 |
BB20033 Bacteriology |
| Credits: 6 |
| Level: Intermediate |
| Semester: 2 |
| Assessment: EX 80%, PR 20% |
| Requisites: |
| Before taking this unit you must take BB10008 or take BB10157 |
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Aims & Learning Objectives: Aims: To provide the students with a foundation of knowledge about bacterial: biology, cellular & molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry, diversity, ecology, and evolution. An underlying theme will be the different types of strategies and mechanisms bacteria use to adapt to their specific niches and exert their particular effects on the biosphere and the inanimate environment. The unit also provides training and quantitative experimental/investigative experience in mainstream bacteriology. After taking this course the student should be able to: * Know the identity and functions of the main structural features of bacteria * Understand the dynamics of bacterial population growth, how this can be quantified, and some of the biological implications for bacteria * Be familiar with the main genetic elements found in bacteria and with the mechanisms for transferring genetic information between individual cells * Know some of the primary and secondary metabolic processes carried out by bacteria * Be familiar with the different procedures for isolating, characterising and recognising bacteria * Have an outline knowledge of the 'Bergey' system of bacterial classification * Have an appreciation of the diversity of ecological niches that bacteria can inhabit, how they have adapted to these niches, and how they can interact with other organisms. Content: Cellular structures; population growth dynamics (with emphasis on batch liquid cultures); genetic systems (genomes, promoters, operons, plasmids, transposons, recombination, transformation, transduction, conjugation, restriction/modification systems); bacteriophage; bacterial specific energy metabolism; secondary metabolism; methods for bacterial isolation, cultivation, characterisation and classification by the 'Bergey' system; diversity; extremophiles; ecology; evolution. |