Università Roma Tre

The course aims at providing to the student:
- adequate knowledge and understanding of advanced methodologies in bacterial genetics, appropriate methodologies and communication skills for the study of genotype-phenotype relationships in bacteria;
- adequate applied knowledge for the evaluation and drafting of experimental approaches, and for retrieving and critically reviewing relevant scientific literature from on-line databases (making judgments).

Program
- structure, organization, functioning and evolution of the bacterial chromosome;
- methods for the sequencing and analysis of bacterial genomes;
- structure, organization, function and evolution of mobile genetic elements (plasmids and transposons);
- genetic and molecular bases of horizontal gene transfer;
- genetic and molecular bases of gene expression regulation and bistability in bacteria;
- genetic bases and experimental approaches for the study of antibiotic resistance and tolerance;
- methods for the identification and validation of essential genes;
- approaches for the identification and study of unculturable microorganisms

Selected topics will be available on suggested Bacterial Genetics books, as indicated in the following reference list. Specific research papers and experimental protocols will be provided during theoretic lessons on advanced research topics and laboratory practices.
Innovative teaching will be promoted by sharing power-point presentations illustrating the main topics of the course via email. Moreover, students will be encouraged to make use of web-based resources and databases to autonomously increase their knowledge on specific advanced topics.