Synthetic Biology & Regulation of Genes Undergrad Course

BIOS 21410. Syntheic Biology and Regulation of Genes. 100 Units.

This lecture and lab course will take an empirical approach to understanding gene regulation during development in Drosophila. Topics include synthetic biology, Drosophila embryonic development, gene regulation, and enhancer evolution. 

Enhancers are short regions of the genome composed of clusters of transcription factor binding sites. Using the even‐skipped stripe 2 enhancer as a model system, the class will explore what is currently known about enhancer molecular organization and how it controls gene expression during development. Using modeling software, students will design their own enhancers. They will then construct these novel sequences using cutting‐edge DNA synthesis methods. Finally, students will clone their synthetic enhancers into an expression vector, and send the constructs for injection into Drosophila embryos. Reporter patterns generated by the students’ enhancers will be uploaded onto the course website after conclusion of the course. Students who produce usable data may be involved in co-authoring a resulting publication. 

Instructor(s): J. Moran, J. Reinitz, U. Schmidt‐OR, M. Kreitman. 
Quarter Offered: Spring.
Prerequisite(s): BIOS 20182, 20192, 20235, 20187 AA, or 20187 BB. Third or fourth year standing. Consent of Instructor.