BCH448H1

Structure and Function of the Nucleus

This course examines the structure and function of the cell nucleus and the genome through the lens of biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology and evolution. A focus is placed on the major scientific developments that shaped our current understanding. Topics that will be covered are eukaryogenesis, junk DNA, the structure of DNA and chromatin, the transfer of information between genotype and phenotype, the filtering of information found in the genome into biologically relevant molecules such as mRNA, the processing and export of these products from the nucleus into the cytoplasm, and the translation of mRNA into protein. We will also investigate how various organelles, such as the endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria, played a role in the evolution of the nucleus. Finally we will investigate how biological information is partitioned during mitosis.