Learning objectives
Many aspects of the medical and biological sciences were revolutionised with the discovery and application of the first DNA restriction enzymes in the 1980s. This was the start of the era of DNA fragments used as molecular markers. Since then, molecular markers have become part of everyday life, not only for research in the medical and biological sciences, but also for widespread practical applications in the state and private sectors of biotechnology industries and commerce.
This course provides an in-depth understanding of molecular markers and their application for a wide range of uses in the microbial, plant, food, animal, forensic and medical sciences.
Course unit content
The course has three components:
1.General information on markers and their uses:
Description of marker types (RFLP, SSR, AFLP, SNP and others)
Typical protocols and associated problems
Using markers for fingerprinting individuals and varieties
How to make and use genetic maps for QTL analysis
Using markers for bulk segregant analysis and association genetics
Future directions of molecular markers
2. Case studies of examples of using markers:
3. Practical exercises in working with molecular markers:
variety identification
making a genetic map
testing allele frequency differences using BSA
identifying a QTL for an important agronomic trait.
Bibliography
-An Introduction to Forensic DNA analysis -Capitoli: 3 e 5 Greg Gibson and Spencer V. Muse,"Indroduzione alla Genomica"
-Capitoli: 10 e 11 Leland H et al., "Genetica".
-Molecular Markers, Natural History, and Evolution,Second Edition, John C. Avise,Chapman and Hall. March 2004
-references from web-site: http://cropsci.uiuc.edu/faculty/gca/kaffe/tools1refs.html
-Wang D.G, Fan J.B., Siao C.J., Berno A., Young P., Sapolsky R., Ghandour G., Perkins N., Winchester E., Spencer J., Kruglyak L., Stein L., Hsie L., Topaloglou T., Hubbell E., Robinson E., Mittmann M., Morris M.S., Shen N., Kilburn D., Rioux J., Nusbaum C., Rozen S., Hudson T.J., Lipshutz R., Chee M., Lander E.S. Large-scale identification, mapping, and genotypimg of single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the human genome. Science. 1998, 280: 1077-1082
-Rafalski A. Applications of single nucleotide polymorphisms in crop genetics. Current Opinion in Plant Biology. 2002, 5:94-100
-Morgante, M., and A.M. Olivieri. PCR-amplified microsatellites as markers in plant genetics. Plant J. 1993, 3:175-182.
-Hunt D.J., Parkes H.C., Lumley I.D. Identification of the Species of Origin of Raw and Cooked Meat Products Using Oligonucleotides Probes. Food Chem. 1997, 60: 437-442
-Gupta P.K., Roy J.K., Prasad M. Single nucleotide polymorphisms: a new paradigm for molecular marker technology and DNA polymorphism detection with emphasis on their use in plants. Curr.Sci. 2001, 80: 524-535
-Andersen J.R. and Lübberstedt T. Functional markers in plants. Trends in Plant Science. 2003, 8 (11): 554-560
Teaching methods
In addition to lectures and case studies, the students will work in the Informatics laboratory learning how to interpret molecular marker information of different types.
Students are examined on the basis of written answers to a series of questions given at the end of the course. This module is given partially in English by a visiting professor with many years’ experience of working with molecular markers in the UK.
