Diploma in Genomics and Genetic Engineering

Compare prokaryotic and eukaryotic genome organization and regulation. Prokaryotes use circular chromosomes with few non-coding regions, while eukaryotes feature linear chromosomes, chromatin, and introns.

Explore non-coding DNA and its fundamental roles in gene regulation, genome stability, and cellular function, from promoters and enhancers to non-coding RNAs and repetitive elements.

Explore repetitive elements in the human genome, including tandem repeats and interspersed elements, such as L1, Alu, LTR, and DNA transposons, and their roles in genome stability, regulation, and evolution.

Explore epigenetics as heritable changes in gene expression without DNA sequence alterations, in genomics and genome organization, driven by environment, lifestyle, and development, and essential for cell differentiation and disease.

Explore DNA methylation, histone modifications, and non-coding RNAs as the three main epigenetic mechanisms, and learn how chromatin remodeling and RNA modifications regulate gene expression and development.

Explore how epigenetic inheritance transmits DNA methylation, histone modifications, and non-coding RNA across generations, shaping gene expression and offspring health under environmental influences.

Explore X chromosome inactivation as a key epigenetic process that equalizes X-linked gene dosage in female mammals by randomly silencing one X chromosome, creating a maternal-paternal mosaic.

Examine how mutations arise from replication errors, mutagens, chemicals, or radiation, driving genetic diversity and evolution, while DNA repair mechanisms maintain genomic stability and prevent disease.

Explore how physical, chemical, and infectious mutagens alter DNA or RNA, increasing mutation rates that drive cancer or evolution, including radiation, UV, and HPV.

Explore replication errors during DNA replication, including misincorporation, polymerase slippage, and strand looping in repetitive sequences that cause insertion or deletion mutations in trinucleotide repeats.

Explore deamination as a mutation removing amino groups from cytosine, adenine, guanine, five methylcytosine, altering base pairing and causing c to t, a to g, and g to a mutations.

Depurination removes purine bases adenine and guanine from DNA, creating abasic (AP) sites that disrupt replication and lead to mispairs and mutations, with base excision repair mitigating effects.

Examine point mutations, where a single nucleotide change alters the DNA sequence; explore substitutions—silent, missense, nonsense—insertions, deletions, and frameshift, with transition or transversion effects on protein function.

Explore point mutations shown in the diagram, focusing on silent, missense, and nonsense mutations caused by single nucleotide substitutions.

Explore chromosomal aberrations, including deletions, duplications, insertions, inversions, translocations, and numerical anomalies like aneuploidy, and learn their roles in genetic disorders and cancer.

Examine DNA repair mechanisms that safeguard genome integrity, including direct reversible repair, base excision repair, nucleotide excision repair, mismatch repair, homologous recombination, non-homologous end joining, translesion synthesis, and crosslink repair.

Direct reversible repair, or photo reactivation repair, uses photolyase to reverse UV-induced thymine dimers by detecting damage, activating with blue light to cleave bonds, and restoring normal DNA.

Identify mismatch repair as a postreplicative repair mechanism that corrects errors escaping proofreading. Trace the steps: detection, recognition, strand identification, excision, resynthesis, and ligation, via the diagram.

Discover how cells repair double strand breaks through homologous recombination and non-homologous end joining, detailing recognition, end resection, strand invasion, DNA synthesis, and ligation.

Explore how interstrand crosslinks are repaired through the Fanconi anemia core complex, including monoubiquitination of FANCD2 and FANCI, recruitment to damage sites, replication-coupled repair, and unhooking the lesion.

Explore proteomics—the large-scale study of proteins, their structure, function, and modifications—using mass spectrometry, chromatography, and bioinformatics to identify and quantify proteins in biological systems.

Explore how genomics and proteomics interrelate, with transcriptomics and functional genomics bridging genes to proteins, enhanced by systems biology and integrated omics for personalized medicine.

Explore how protein synthesis converts genetic information into functional proteins in proteomics, detailing transcription, ribosome-driven translation, and post-translational modifications, and how mass spectrometry analyzes these proteins for biomarkers and therapeutics.

Explore how transfer RNA serves as the adaptor delivering amino acids to the ribosome, matching anticodons with mRNA codons through a cloverleaf structure.

Explore codons as three-nucleotide RNA triplets that code amino acids or signal start and stop, and how anticodons on tRNA ensure correct amino acid incorporation during translation.

Decode translation termination by stop codons UAA, UAG, UGA; release factors bind, hydrolyze peptidyl-tRNA, then RF3 with GTP and ribosome recycling factor dissociate and recycle ribosomal subunits.

Explore post-translational modifications, chemical changes to proteins after translation that regulate function, stability, localization, and interactions, including phosphorylation, glycosylation, and ubiquitination.

Discover how acetylation adds an acetyl group to lysine residues or the N-terminus, using acetyl-CoA, altering structure, gene expression, and chromatin accessibility via acetyltransferases and deacetylases.

Explore how ubiquitination, a post-translational modification, attaches ubiquitin to target proteins to regulate degradation, activity, localization, and interactions, detailing E1 activation, E2 transfer, E3 ligase–driven conjugation, polyubiquitination, and proteasome-mediated degradation.

Explore lipidation, a post-translational modification attaching lipid groups to proteins, enabling membrane association, signaling, and trafficking, including palmitoylation, myristoylation, and farnesylation.

Explore the sulfation post-translational modification, where sulfate groups attach to tyrosine residues in proteins in the Golgi via PAPS, catalyzed by tyrosyl protein sulfotransferases, regulating receptor interactions.

Explore post-translational nitrosylation, where nitric oxide attaches to cysteine residues to regulate protein function, localization, and signaling, including s-nitrosylation, nitrotyrosine formation, and regulatory pathways.

Explore hydroxylation, a post-translational modification catalyzed by prolyl and lysyl hydroxylases using oxygen and alpha-ketoglutarate, stabilizing collagen via hydroxyproline and hydroxylysine.

Explore how cells regulate gene expression across transcriptional, post-transcriptional, translational, post-translational, and epigenetic levels, guided by transcription factors, chromatin changes, signaling pathways, and miRNA/lncRNA regulation.

Explore transcriptional regulation of gene expression through promoters, enhancers, DNA looping, transcription factors, and RNA polymerase recruitment, illustrating activation and repression mechanisms in eukaryotic cells.

Explore operons as prokaryotic gene regulators, focusing on lac operon’s promoter, operator, and lac z, lac y, and lac a genes, and negative and positive regulation by repressor and cap-camp.

Learn how epigenetic regulation controls gene expression through DNA methylation and histone modification, influencing chromatin structure, transcription factor access, and inheritance of methylation patterns.

Explore how genomic technologies revolutionize molecular biology by analyzing DNA and RNA to reveal genetic variation, gene expression, and genome interactions across organisms, enabling advances in medicine, agriculture, and conservation.

Explore next generation sequencing and its Illumina SBS method, 454 pyrosequencing, Ion Torrent, and PacBio long reads, with applications in cancer, infectious disease, and personalized medicine.

Explore pacbio single molecule sequencing, a third generation real-time long-read technology using smart belle template, primers, and polymerase to deliver high-accuracy reads and epigenetic insights such as methylation.

Explore the applications of DNA sequencing across genomic research, disease diagnosis, cancer genomics, pharmacogenomics, forensics, and agriculture, with examples from the Human Genome Project and Cancer Genome Atlas.

Trace historical milestones in genetic engineering from DNA structure discovery to Crispr Cas9, highlighting recombinant DNA, PCR, gene editing, and synthetic biology shaping medicine, agriculture, and biotechnology.

Explore key components of recombinant DNA technology, including restriction enzymes, DNA ligases, plasmids, and PCR, and learn how sticky and blunt ends enable cloning and expression in various hosts.

Explore how recombinant DNA technology enables production of therapeutic proteins, vaccines, GMOs, and gene therapies, with applications in medicine, agriculture, forensics, and environmental bioremediation.

Master the DNA cloning process from isolating DNA and restriction digestion to ligation, transformation, and screening for recombinant DNA in plasmid vectors within host cells.

Amplify specific DNA sequences using polymerase chain reaction, featuring DNA template, primers, polymerase, and a thermocycler. Learn denaturation, annealing, and extension steps and applications in genetic testing, forensics, and diagnostics.

Explore the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system, its Cas9 enzyme guided by RNA to cut DNA, and its wide applications in functional genomics, disease modeling, gene therapy, and crop improvement.

Apply your understanding of genomics and genetic engineering through an assignment that analyzes principles, techniques, and real-world applications, including CRISPR-Cas9, NGS, RNA interference, and recombinant DNA.