ENROL NOW

Genetics

Course CodeBSC207
Fee CodeS1
Duration (approx)100 hours
QualificationStatement of Attainment
Genetics provides a foundation for both
  • Breeding Plants, and
  • Understanding Plant Conservation and Management.
It is an essential area of study for anyone working in horticultural research, botany, environmental management or other areas of applied biological sciences.
 
If you want to understand how to develop new plant cultivars, you will need to have a knowledge of genetics at a level equal to what is in this course.
 

Lesson Structure

There are 10 lessons in this course:

  1. Introduction to Genetics
    • Scope, nature and history
    • Darwin and Mendel
    • Mendel’s experiment
    • Mendel’s law of segregation
    • Mendel’s Law of Independent Assortment
    • Advances since Mendel
    • Important genetics terminology
  2. Cells, Organelles and Cell Division
    • Prokaryotes
    • Eukaryotes
    • Organelles in the cell
    • Cell structure and function
    • Organelles in plants -Cell wall, Vacuole,Plastids
    • Organelles in plants and animals - plasma membrane, cytoplasm, ribosomes etc.
    • Genetic structures and materials
    • Nucleus
    • Nuclear envelope
    • Nucleolus
    • DNA
    • Cell division –meiosis and mitosis
    • DNA replication
    • Four stages of Mitosis
    • Cytokinesis
    • Gametogenesis
    • Gametes
    • Meiosis
    • Meiosis 1
    • Meiosis 2
    • Gamete production in plants
  3. Interaction between Chromosomes
    • Introduction
    • Sex determination
    • Sex chromosomes
    • Sex linked inheritance
    • Haemophilia example
    • Colour blindness example
    • Linkage and crossing over
    • Linked genes
    • Genetic mapping
    • Set task
  4. Interaction between Genes
    • Introduction
    • Traits and gene expression
    • Polygenic inheritance
    • Gene interactions
    • Epistasis
    • Enhancer genes
    • Suppressor gene
    • Incomplete dominance
    • Codominance
    • Lethal genes
    • Cytoplasmic inheritance
    • Gene expression
    • Transcription
    • Translation
  5. Genetic Chemistry
    • Nucleic acids
    • DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) Structure
    • Double Stranded Helix
    • Chromosomes
    • Chromatin
    • Chromatids
    • Understanding the genetic code
    • Role of proteins
    • Transcription and translation
    • Post translational modification
    • Introns and exons
    • Reading the code
  6. Mutations
    • Introduction
    • Chromosome mutations
    • Insertion
    • Inversion
    • Duplication
    • Translocation
    • Nondisjunction
    • Gene mutations
    • Point mutations (single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)
    • Point substitution mutation
    • Insertions
    • Deletions
    • Frameshift mutations
    • Categories of gene mutations
    • Silent mutations
    • Missense mutations
    • Nonsense mutations
    • How do mutations occur
    • Radiation
    • Viruses or other microorganisms
    • Chemicals
    • Spontaneous mutations
    • Effect of mutations
    • Repair of mutations
  7. DNA Repair and Recombination
    • Introduction
    • Excision pathways
    • Methyl directed mismatch repair
    • SOS repair
    • Photoreactivation (Light dependent repair)
    • Crossing over
    • Recombination
  8. Developmental Genetics
    • Introduction
    • Genetics are instructions for structures
    • Cellular organisation and differentiation
    • Model organisms used in developmental genetics
    • Why study developmental genetics
    • The human genome project
    • Birth defects
    • Genetic advances in birth defects
    • Gene therapy
    • Gene therapy and cancer
  9. Population genetics
    • What is population genetics
    • Genetic variation within a population
    • How do we measure genetic variation
    • The hardy weinberg law
    • Evolutionary agents and their effect on population genetics
    • Mutations
    • Movement of individuals between populations
    • Genetic drift
    • Non random mating
    • Natural selection
    • Polymorphism
  10. Applied Genetics
    • Genetics in breeding animals
    • Farm animal breeding
    • Breeding pets
    • Genetics for breeding plants
    • Cloning plants
    • Cloning -somatic cell nuclear transfer
    • Modifying organisms genetically
    • Transgenic animals
    • Agricultural applications for transgenics
    • Medical applications for transgenics
    • Transgenics to modify DNA in plants
    • Genetics in human health science
    • Disease understanding
    • Diagnosis of disease
    • Genetic screening
    • Gene therapy
    • Pharmacogenomics

Genetics Underpins Plant Breeding and Propagation

It is through a deeper understanding of genetics that you are able to improve anything you do with plant propagation, or plant breeding. Whenever you set out to create new plants, there are many variables in the outcome. Propagated plants may be produced in a way that is either identical or different to the plant you propagate from.

  • The amount and type of difference can be controlled if you wish.
  • To exercise that control though; it is important to properly understand genetics - and what you learn in this courser underpins and improves your capacity to exercise that control.

 

Employment Opportunities

Genetics may be found in the future:

  • Plant Breeding
  • Animal Breeding
  • Genomics
  • Ancestry
  • Gene therapy
  • Diagnostic genetic testing – paternity; genetic disorders
  • Clinical trials
  • Forensic science
  • Genetic enhancement
  • Biotech/Medical Sales and Marketing
  • Research e.g. medical, public health, anthropological
  • Dietetics/Nutrition
  • Nursing
  • Education
  • Science Outreach
  • Technician
  • Patenting
  • Scientific/Technical/Medical Writing and Illustrating
  • Genetic counseling
  • Bioinformatics
  • Administration
  • Physician Assistant
  • Genetic programming

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