BIOL1102 Molecular Basis of Life

Students can contact the teaching team.

This topic discusses how plants, animals and microbes control their internal activities at the biochemical, genetic and physiological level. Emphasis will be placed on the similarities between the different groups and on how they can be analysed.

This topic aims to ensure that students have a basic understanding of the following:

• The cellular nature of life and the function of intracellular organelles
• The genetic systems of prokaryotes and eukaryotes
• The nature of genetic information and how it is replicated, how it is expressed and how the expression is regulated
• How a multicellular organisms can develop from a single cell and how cells communicate in multicellular organisms
• How the intracellular environment is regulated and metabolic energy derived and utilised
• How the needs of organisms are met from their environment

1. Understand the microscopic structure of cells
2. Describe the needs of organisms and how these are met from their environment
3. Understand the nature and flow of genetic information
4. Predict outcomes of simple Mendelian inheritance
5. Describe how cellular processes are regulated
6. Describe how complex organisms develop from a single cell
7. Develop basic skills to search, retrieve and interpret articles published in scientific journals
8. Develop basic laboratory skills including technical skills, experimental design and data interpretation