BIOMI 4850

Bacterial Genetics

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

Bacteria and archaea are the driving force behind all major environmental cycles on the planet, they are critical players in a broad range of agricultural and industrial applications, as well as being responsible for many of the greatest medical challenges and opportunities facing humanity. Additionally, the underpinning of all molecular biology basically comes from work in bacteria. Systems being discovered in bacteria and archaea are continuing to drive the latest technologies in gene modification and genetic engineering across the life sciences. This course will provide a fundamental understanding of the genetics of bacteria and archaea and how this information can be used to understand the uniquely important role they play in the natural environment and current and future applications.

Prerequisites REF-FA25/Corequisites REF-FA25 BIOMG 2800. Corequisites: None.

Distribution Requirements (BSC-AG, OPHLS-AG)

Last 4 terms offered (None)

Outcomes REF-FA25

• Gain an understanding of how bacteria and archaea maintain and pass on genetic information and the unique nature of their genomes.
• Learn how bacteria and archaea evolve through mutations and the exchange of genetic information via mobile elements (e.g. bacteriophage, plasmids, transposons) and direct DNA uptake.
• Understand how the repertoire encoded in bacterial and archaeal genomes is efficiently regulated through gene and global regulation.
• Understand the bacterial and archaeal systems used across biology for gene editing and synthetic biology (e.g. CRISPR/Cas, gene assembly).
• Understand how bacterial genetics was used to answer many of the fundamental questions in biology.

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