Updated: August 6, 2010
Molecular Biology MCDB 427
Fall 2010
T Th 11:30-1 PM, 1210 Chem
Instructors:
Dr. Jianming Li
jian@umich.edu
2095 Natural Sciences
Office Hours: M F 3-4 or by appt.
GSIs:
Adam Schmidt
Justin Lenhart
email: adschnid@umich.edu
email: coldnjl@gmail.com
Dr. Eran Pichersky
lelx@umich.edu
4103D Natural Sciences
Office Hours: W F 10-11, or by appt.
Geng Yu
email: gengy@umich.edu
Text: Molecular Biology 4th Edition
CourseTools
https://ctools.umich.edu
Announcements, lecture materials, exam keys, answers to problems, and links to supplementary material
will be provided here. If you have a question about something (e.g., where is the exam? what will it
cover? how many questions?), check the web page first - it is the easiest way to get quick information.
We advise you to consult the web site at least weekly, and daily during the week before an exam.
In class exams
There will be four exams given on the days indicated on the syllabus (Sept 28, Oct 21, Nov 16 and Dec 9)
and you are required to take all four exams. Questions on the exam will cover material from the lectures,
text and discussion sections. You must take all four exams at the scheduled times, and there will be no
makeup exams.
Exam re-grades will be considered, but you must submit a typed statement explaining the rationale for a
re-grade within one week of when the exam was returned to you. There will be no exceptions. Never
write directly on the exam when requesting a regrade. Partial credit is not awarded in regrades and every
question may be re-evaluated.
Missed exams
There are no makeup exams. If you miss an exam then it will count as a zero. However, each year a
handful of students need to miss an exam due to significant illness, family crisis, or for another approved
reason. We will work with these individuals to ensure that their illness does not impact their grades.
Please note that we require proper documentation, before approving a valid reason for a missed exam. If
at all possible, pre-approval should be obtained, as only a significant crisis will be an acceptable reason
for missing an exam. Simply going to health services is not acceptable. Ditto for medical school
interviews. Students who miss any exam for an excused absence will have that exam dropped and the
remaining 3 exams will be used for calculation of their grade.
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Grading
Exams 100 points each
Discussion
Total
Grading will be on a straight scale:
A+
97.00-100%
A
93.00-96.99%
A90.00-92.99%
B+
87.00-89.99%
B
83.00-86.99%
B80.00-82.99%
400 points
48 points
448 points
C+
C
CD+
D
D-
77.00-79.99%
73.00-76.99%
70.00-72.99%
67.00-69.99%
63.00-66.99%
60.00-62.99%
Note 1: There is NO ROUNDING UP for assigning grades. For example, 89.9% is a B+.
Note 2: We do not anticipate altering this scale but will do so if the median final grade for the class is
below the C+/B- border (this will work in your favor).
Discussion sections
Discussion is a critical component of this course and is mandatory. You must attend the discussion section
you are assigned to. The major focus of discussion will be the evaluation of primary literature that
complements the lecture material. Each week that we have Discussion sessions (with the exception of the
Discussion sessions during the first week, which will be devoted to administrative issues), at the
beginning of the discussion session there will be a graded short quiz based on the weekly reading (paper
or textbook). Your discussion grade will be based on these quizzes and attendance.
We recognize that during the term many of you will get sick, have medical school interviews, oversleep,
have meetings to attend and/or just not understand the assigned paper. Taking this into consideration, you
will be allowed to either (1) miss 2 discussions or (2) drop your lowest 2 discussion section scores. Any
additional absences will result in a zero grade.
Students with disabilities
Any student who feels that he/she may need an accommodation for any sort of disability, please make an
appointment to see one of us during office hours.
A final note:
Students are expected to have a basic understanding of biochemistry and genetics. All students are
encouraged to use the discussion and office hours to clarify material and ensure that their notes are
adequate. Keeping up with the material is critical for doing well in this course.
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Date
Sept 7 & 9
Week 1 discussion
(Sept 8 & 9)
Sept 14 & 16
Week 2 discussion
(Sept 15 & 16)
Sept 21 & 23
Week 3 discussion
(Sept 22 & 23)
Sept 28
Sept 30
Week 4 discussion
(Sept 29 & 30)
Oct 5 & 7
Week 5 discussion
(Oct 6 & 7)
Oct 12 & 14
Lecture
Introduction/Molecular
techniques for gene
identification and
manipulation
Molecular techniques for
measuring gene activity
and its effects
Prokaryotic transcription
initiation, role of sigma,
termination
Reading and questions
Read chapters 2-3 for background.
Ch 4, Table 1, Figures 1-7, 11, 12, 14, 15,
16, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25.
Administrative issues: You must show up
to guarantee your place in the section.
Ch 5 Figures 1- 12, 16-38
Paper 1: Morrow et al., 1974
Quiz 1
Ch 6 Fig 1, 3-14,16,17.
Ch 6 Fig 24-26, 45-46, 48-51.
Review for Exam 1
Quiz 2
Exam 1
Finish prokaryotic
transcription, Negative and
positive control
DNA looping ProteinDNA interactions
Negative and positive
control
DNA looping ProteinDNA interactions
Eukaryotic RNA
polymerases
Promoters, General
transcription factors
Ch 7 Fig 2-26
Ch 9,Fig 2, 14-18.
Paper 2: Ross et al., 1998
Quiz 3
Ch 7 Fig 2-26
Ch 9,Fig 2, 14-18.
Paper 3: TBA
Quiz 4
Ch 10 Fig 1, 2, 4-9, 20-23, 28-30.
Ch 11, Fig 1-14.
TAFs and activators
Week 6 discussion
(Oct 13 & 14)
Oct 19
Oct 21
Week 7 discussion
Oct 26 & 28
Week 8 discussion
(Oct 27 & 28)
Nov 2 & 4
Review for Exam 2
Quiz 5
Fall break
Exam 2
No Discussion this Week!
Chromatin Structure
mRNA processing
Ch 13
Paper 4: Bannister et al., 2001
Quiz 6
Ch 14, Ch 16. Figures: 14.1, 14.2, 14.4,
14.5, 14.8, 14.10,14.11, 14.12, 14.13,
14.28, 14.38, 14.39, 14.46, 14.48, 16.10
3
Week 9 discussion
(Nov 3 & 4)
Nov 9 & 11
RNA stability, micro RNA
and RNAi
Week 10 discussion
(Nov 10 & 11)
Nov 16
Nov 18
Exam 3
Translation
Week 11 discussion
(Nov 17 & 18)
Nov 23
DNA replication
Nov 25
Week 12 Discussion
Nov 30 & Dec 2
Week 13 discussion
(Dec 1 & 2)
Dec 7
Dec 9
Week 14 discussion
Thanksgiving
No Discussion this Week!
DNA repair
and
Gene duplication
Genome structure and
evolution
Exam 4
No Discussion this Week!
Ch 15, Ch 16. Figures: 15.3, 15.4, 15.10,
15.12, 15.14, 15.15, 15.16, 15.19, 15.25,
15.29,15.30, 15.37, 16.14, 16.15, 16.18,
16.20.
Paper 5: Breathnach et al., 1977
Quiz 7
Ch 16. Figures: 16.21, 16.22, 16.23,
16.24, 16.25, 16.27, 16.29, 16.30, 16.31,
16.32 16.33,16.36,16.38,16.39,16.44,
16.45, Table 16.1
Review for Exam 3
Quiz 8
Ch 17, Ch 18. Figures: 17.2, 17.3, 17.4, 17.5,
17.7, 17.14, 17.15, 17.34, 17.35, 17.36,
18.10, 18.28, 18.30, 18.32, 18.33, 18.34,
18.35, 18.36, 18.37, 18.38, Table 17.1, Table
18.6
Paper 6: Napoli et al. 1990
Quiz 9
Ch 20, Ch 21. Figures: 20.5, 20.6, 20.8, 20.9,
20.10, 20.11, 20.12, 20.13, 20.14, 20.17, 20.18,
20.19, 20.21, 21.1, 21.2, 21.8, 21.9, 21.13, 21.14,
21.29, 21.31,
Ch 20. Figures: 20.27, 20.28, 20.29, 20.30,
20.31, 20.32, 20.33, 20.35, 20.34, 20.36,
20.16, 20.15, 20.37, 20.38, 20.39, 20.41,
20.42, 20.43, 20.44.
Review for Exam 4
Quiz 10
Ch 24. Table 24.1. Also read pages 778-796,
but for background information only.
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