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General Microbiology II - Micro 521

Instructor: Dr. Marie-A. Gilles Gonzalez: gilles-gonzalez.1@osu.edu , 244 Rightmire Hall, Tel 688-3303

Teaching Assistant: Mike Wolfe: wolfe.96@osu.edu, 752 Biological Sciences, Tel 292-9473

Here I will post:

Reload pages regularly for most up-to-date material.

Announcements

A note about your final grades

Your final grades were calculated and verified by me and the two laboratory instructors. In the unlikely event that you discover a mistake in the computation of your final grade, a grade change will be considered.

It is futile to contact me for explanations of "curves" and for discussions of personal problems that may have affected your performance. In a class having more than 80 students, there are invariably a number of misfortunes, including students who are victims of accidents or who learn that they (or members of their family) have cancers, require major surgery, etc. In cases involving serious disruptions, a request of an "incomplete" along with proof of the cause of the disruption, well before the end of the quarter, is advisable.

A grade is earned, not granted. It certifies a level of understanding of the subject matter. It bears little relationship to the performance of the other students, and it has no relationship whatsoever to a student's personal problems or to his/her future plans. Anything else would devalue the reputation of the University.

Sincerely,

MAG-G

Click here for your grade on the final exam.

Click here (or in the syllabus) for the final exam.

Lecture notes. For the most current notes on any lecture, always RELOAD. Click on the appropriate section of the syllabus.

Optional readings have been added to many earlier lectures. RELOAD the lecture notes to get the latest optional readings.

Syllabus. The syllabus was revised on March 27.

Click here for the Practice Final Exam.

Click here for Midterm 1997. Includes query to find out your grade. Due to considerations of privacy, the grade listings have been removed from the Web Site. Instead, there is a small query form at the top of the posted midterm exam. Enter the last 4 digits of your SS# and a notice will pop up informing you of your grade on the midterm.

New links. Links to other OSU Departments were recently added. The Glossary of Microbiology is a very helpful reference. The clickable campus map has been improved. There is a section on authoring web pages. Enjoy the sections on Haitian art (I especially like the painters Chery, Bigaud, and Danbreville) and on Columbus food, movies and weather.

Course policies

Text: Biology of Microorganisms, 7th Edition. Brock, Madigan, Martinko, and Parker (1994).

Optional readings are not required, but you will probably find them interesting and helpful.

Grading: Lecture 50%, Laboratory 50%

Lecture Evaluation: Exam I, February 12, 12:30 - 1:18 (50%); Exam II March 18, 11:30 - 1:18 (50%)

There will be no make-up examinations. Special problems that might interfere with taking the scheduled examinations, must be discussed with Dr. Gilles-Gonzalez prior to the examination date.

Weekly quiz: you will find each week's quiz under Friday class notes. The purpose of the quizzes is to guide your study and help you gauge your progress. They will not be graded. If you do the quizzes right away, i.e. with ample time to make sure that you have understood all the questions, you should have no trouble with future exams.

Syllabus

Click on topic to get notes for that topic. Each week's notes will become available on the Monday of the next week.

Date

Topic

Reading

Jan. 6 1 Nucleic Acids: transformation, genetic elements, DNA, RNA 253-254, 151-153, 32-35, 132-133
Jan. 8 2 Working with Nucleic Acids: purification, sequencing, amplification 136-143, 145-147, 301-303, 254-256
Jan 10 3 Protein Structure and Function: Enzymes, protein-nucleic acid interactions, antigen-antibody reactions 35-40, 92-94, 143-145, 466-470, 631-632
Jan 13 4 Genome structure, DNA replication 133-135, 80-83, 147-151, 153-155
Jan 15 5 Gene structure. Transcription: RNA synthesis and processing 131-132, 155-160, 179-180
Jan 17 6 Translation: protein synthesis 161-167
Jan 20 MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY
Jan 22 7 Gene expression: global regulation, induction, repression 170-174, 176-179
Jan 24 8 Gene expression: attenuation, prokaryotes vs. eukaryotes 174-175, 179-180
Jan 27 9 Bacterial viruses: general features, quantitation 183-199
Jan 29 10 Bacterial viruses: RNA, single stranded DNA 199-203
Jan 31 11 Bacterial viruses: double stranded DNA - T4, T7, lambda 203-213
Feb 3 12 Mu, transposons. Animal viruses: general features of retroviruses. 213-215, 271-274, 230-234
Feb 5 13 HIV & AIDS. Overview of animal viruses. 545-551, 215-219
Feb 7 14 Microbial genetics - overview of mutation, recombination, complementation, selections, and screens 237-241, 274
Feb 10 15 Mutagenesis. Complementation - introduction to conjugation 241-248
Feb 12 EXAMINATION I (Midterm exam)
12:30 a.m. - 1:18 p.m.
Jan 6 - Feb 10 Lectures
Feb 14 16 Complementation, old vs. new 251, 259-267
Feb 17 17 Recombination, old vs. new 248-251, 256-259, 267-271, 275-278
Feb 19 18 Special topics in genetic engineering:
overexpression, lambda expression libraries

304-319 (optional)
Feb 21 19 Carbon cycle 648-653, 588-590, 729-730, 745-749, 636-638.
Feb 24 20 The rumen 653-656
Feb 26 21 Waste treatment 565-570, 672-674
Feb 28 22 Nitrogen cycle 656-658, 617-621, 682-689, 595-596, 738-740, 599-601
Mar 3 23 The sulfur cycle 658-660, 591-592, 601-603, 740-743
Mar 5 24 The iron and mercury cycles 660-663, 592-595
Mar 7 25 Bioremediation 613-616, 668-671
Mar 10 26 Methods and principles of microbial ecology;
Molecular systematics - the primary Domains
623-638;
698-716 (optional)
Mar 12 27 Aquatic habitats;
Brief overview of the Eukarya
638-648;
843-856, 278-284
Mar 14 28 Food preservation, poisoning, and infection;
Industrial fermentation vessels,
Selected fermentations: beer, wine, vinegar
516, 561-565;
367-370,
384-392
Mar 18
Tuesday
Examination II (Final Exam)
11:30 a.m. - 1:18 p.m.
Feb 14 - Mar 14 Lectures