Advanced Readings in Molecular Biology
BISC 544 (Spring 2010)
2 units
Course Chair: Xuelin Wu
Instructors: Molecular and Computational Faculty
Meeting Time: Tuesday 10 am
Overview and Course Goals: The goal of the course is to give advanced training to
graduate students in reading primary journal articles. The course will emphasize critical
analyses of primary scientific data and interpretations presented in the literature.
Course enrollment: Enrollment is restricted to Molecular Biology graduate students. All
students need instructor’s permission to take this class.
Website: Course materials and announcement will be made using the USC Blackboard
website.
Course Grading: You will be evaluated based on your class participation (10% of grade)
and paper presentations (90% of grade). You are expected to read the assigned paper
before each class and understand the material presented. During each meeting you are
expected to contribute to the discussion, which will count towards your class
participation portion of your grade. You are also expected to present the primary data
from the papers, describing the experimental overview and the questions the paper
addresses, conclusions from the paper, and/or criticisms of the paper. Your grade will be
a letter grade.
Statement for Students with Disabilities
Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to
register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of
verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the
letter is delivered to me (or to TA) as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in
STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number
for DSP is (213) 740-0776.
Statement on Academic Integrity
USC seeks to maintain an optimal learning environment. General principles of academic
honesty include the concept of respect for the intellectual property of others, the
expectation that individual work will be submitted unless otherwise allowed by an
instructor, and the obligations both to protect one’s own academic work from misuse by
others as well as to avoid using another’s work as one’s own. All students are expected to
understand and abide by these principles. Scampus, the Student Guidebook, contains the
Student Conduct Code in Section 11.00, while the recommended sanctions are located in
Appendix A: http://www.usc.edu/dept/publications/SCAMPUS/gov/. Students will be
referred to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards for further
review, should there be any suspicion of academic dishonesty. The Review process can
be found at: http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/SJACS/.
Jan. 12
Xuelin Wu
Paternal control of embryonic patterning in Arabidopsis thaliana.
Bayer M, Nawy T, Giglione C, Galli M, Meinnel T, Lukowitz W.
Science. 2009 Mar 13;323(5920):1485-8.
PMID: 19286558 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Jan. 19
Michelle Arbeitman
Control of the postmating behavioral switch in Drosophila females by internal sensory
neurons.
Yang CH, Rumpf S, Xiang Y, Gordon MD, Song W, Jan LY, Jan YN.
Neuron. 2009 Feb 26;61(4):519-26.
PMID: 19249273 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Jan. 26
Norman Arnheim
New insights into human nondisjunction of chromosome 21 in oocytes.
Oliver TR, Feingold E, Yu K, Cheung V, Tinker S, Yadav-Shah M, Masse N, Sherman
SL.
PLoS Genet. 2008 Mar 14;4(3):e1000033.
PMID: 18369452 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Feb. 2
Steve Finkel
A DNA damage response in Escherichia coli involving the alternative sigma factor,
RpoS.
Merrikh H, Ferrazzoli AE, Bougdour A, Olivier-Mason A, Lovett ST.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Jan 13;106(2):611-6. Epub 2009 Jan 5.
PMID: 19124769 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Feb. 9
Sergey Nuzhdin
Direct estimation of per nucleotide and genomic deleterious mutation rates in Drosophila.
Haag-Liautard C, Dorris M, Maside X, Macaskill S, Halligan DL, Houle D, Charlesworth
B, Keightley PD.
Nature. 2007 Jan 4;445(7123):82-5. Erratum in: Nature. 2008 May 1;453(7191):128.
Houle, David [added].
PMID: 17203060 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Feb. 16
Don Arnold
Accumulation of AMPA receptors in autophagosomes in neuronal axons lacking adaptor
protein AP-4.
Matsuda S, Miura E, Matsuda K, Kakegawa W, Kohda K, Watanabe M, Yuzaki M.
Neuron. 2008 Mar 13;57(5):730-45.
PMID: 18341993 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Feb. 23
Oscar Aparicio
A genetic screen for increased loss of heterozygosity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Andersen MP, Nelson ZW, Hetrick ED, Gottschling DE.
Genetics. 2008 Jul;179(3):1179-95. Epub 2008 Jun 18.
PMID: 18562670 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
March 2
Susan Forsburg
Msc1 links dynamic Swi6/HP1 binding to cell fate determination.
Lawrence RJ, Volpe TA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Jan 27;106(4):1163-8. Epub 2009 Jan 21.
PMID: 19164572 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
March 9
John Tower
Mistranslation-induced protein misfolding as a dominant constraint on coding-sequence
evolution.
Drummond DA, Wilke CO.
Cell. 2008 Jul 25;134(2):341-52.
PMID: 18662548 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
March 16
Lin Chen
Structural basis of DNA recognition by p53 tetramers.
Kitayner M, Rozenberg H, Kessler N, Rabinovich D, Shaulov L, Haran TE, Shakked Z.
Mol Cell. 2006 Jun 23;22(6):741-53.
PMID: 16793544 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
March 23
Steve Goodman
The dynamic Mu transpososome: MuB activation prevents disintegration.
Lemberg KM, Schweidenback CT, Baker TA.
J Mol Biol. 2007 Dec 14;374(5):1158-71. Epub 2007 Oct 3.
PMID: 17988683 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
March 30
David Mckemy
Inhibition of nociceptors by TRPV1-mediated entry of impermeant sodium channel
blockers.
Binshtok AM, Bean BP, Woolf CJ.
Nature. 2007 Oct 4;449(7162):607-10.
PMID: 17914397 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
April 13
Valter Longo
Mutations that increase the life span of C. elegans inhibit tumor growth.
Pinkston JM, Garigan D, Hansen M, Kenyon C.
Science. 2006 Aug 18;313(5789):971-5.
PMID: 16917064 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
April 21
Matt Dean
Paper to be determined
April 28
Review