Genes to Organisms

• • A week-by-week guide to the topics you will explore in this subject will be provided in your study materials.

Others

NCCW (pre-2020 units): BIOL115 NCCW (2020 and onwards): BIOL1110 Genes to Organisms

Special requirements

• AttendanceDetails - The practical classes for this subject are held over four days at the Macquarie University campus in North Ryde (Sydney, NSW)
• OtherDetails -

  Students who have an Academic Standing of Suspension or Exclusion under Macquarie University's Academic Progression Policy are not permitted to enrol in OUA subject offered by Macquarie University. Students with an Academic Standing of Suspension or Exclusion who have enrolled in subjects through OUA will be withdrawn.

This subject deals with the nuts and bolts of life on earth. Throughout the subject there is a single unifying theme – that all of the processes that give rise to life are derived from DNA. We show students that DNA controls life by acting as a blueprint for the construction of proteins, and that those proteins build cells which act as the basic structural and functional units of all life. To demonstrate these processes to students, we start by talking about the structure and function of DNA to show how it can act as a simple code for the construction of proteins. Students are then shown how proteins are constructed from the DNA code, and how those proteins can be used to build and maintain cells. Having established these basic principles, the subject then goes on to explain how cells construct multicellular organisms during development, and how the proper functioning of those organisms is maintained by regulating cellular activity. We also demonstrate that the DNA code is essentially immortal because it can be copied from generation to generation, from cell to cell. This subject requires attendance at on-campus sessions.

Participatory task: Practical classes will be run with an online format.

• Mid-semester test (15%)
• Final Exam (40%)
• Paper dissection (25%)
• Database project (10%)
• Practical quizzes (10%)