Recombinogenesis and repair

Course unit

title

Scientific direction

Scientific code

Faculty

Department (s)

Recombinogenesis and repair

Biology N010

Life Sciences Center

Institute of Biosciences

Mode of studies

Number of credits

Mode of studies

Number of credits

Lectures

0

Consultations

2

Self-studies

6

Seminars

0

Aims of course

Perception of main principles of modern life science-based knowledges of recombination and repair processes in living organisms, their importance in the evolution of living organisms, molecular mechanisms of recombination and repair and their role in genome stability

Main topics

Genetic recombination, its occurrence, significance in the evolution of living organisms. Types of recombination, their role in maintaining the genome stability in organisms of different taxonomic groups. Evolution of models of homologous recombination (HR). Gene conversion. HR in prokaryotes.  Pathways of HR in Escherichia coli. RecA protein and its properties. RecA-related proteins in prokaryotes. RecA filament. Searching for homology by filaments. The role of RecA in repair. SOS induction. SOS mutagenesis. Other prokaryotic proteins involved in HR and double strand breakage (DSB) repair. HR in eukaryotes. Meiosis, meiotic and mitotic crossing overs, cytogenetic features of meiosis recombination and reparation. Induction of DSBs and they repair by HR. Spo11 protein. MRX(N) protein complexes. Eukaryotic recombinases and their properties. Rad51, Dmc1 proteins. Sister chromatid repair. Meiotic recombination hotspots. PRDM9 protein, its role in controlling hotspot locations.  Ectopic recombination and evolution of genomic sequences. Use of HR in medicine, biotechnology and science. Conservative site-specific recombination (CSSR). Natural systems of CSSR. The two families of recombinases: tyrosine and serine. Control of the recombination reaction. Applications of site-specific recombination. Transposition. Classification of mobile elements. Mechanisms of transposition. Transposases. Retrotransposons, their prevalence in eukaryotic genomes and significance. Applications of mobile elements. V(D)J recombination. General properties of V(D)J recombination. The RAG genes and proteins, end processing and joining in V(D)J recombination. Origin of V(D)J recombination. Class-switch recombination. Mechanisms of CSR. AID protein. Illegitimate recombination and nonhomologous end-joining. Illegitimate recombination and NHEJ in bacteria. Pathways of NHEJ in eukaryotes. Species conservation of Ku-dependent NHEJ. T-DNA recombination. Horizontal gene transfer. RNA recombination.

Main literature

1. Haber J.E. Genome stability: DNA repair and recombination. Garland Science. 2014.

2. DNA recombination. Eds. Heyer W.D., Kowalczykowski S., Barres B.A. et al. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. 2016.

3. Molecular genetics of recombination (Topics in current genetics). Eds. A. Aguilera, R. Rothstein. Springer Verlag. 2007.

4. Hanaoka F., Sugasawa K. DNA replication, recombination, and repair. Springer. 2016.

5. Latest articles from Nature, Science, Trends in Genetics etc.

Assessment strategy

Assessment criteria

Exam

During the exam, the student answers three open questions. Passing score: 5. Knowledge and skills are evaluated with points from 1 to 10. 10 (excellent) - excellent, exceptional knowledge and abilities, 91-100 percentile of the intended learning outcome; 9 (very good) - very good knowledge and abilities, 81-90 percentile of the intended learning outcome; 8 (good) - knowledge and abilities are above average (a student independently, reasonably, clearly states the essence of the given question, is well acquainted with the terminology of the taught subject),  71-80 percentile of the intended learning outcome; 7 (average) - average knowledge and abilities; there are few not essential mistakes (a student independently but incoherently and without justification sets out the essence of the question, uses the basic definitions of the subject), 61-70 percentile of the intended learning outcome; 6 (satisfactory) - knowledge and abilities are below average, there are mistakes, 56-60 percentile of the intended learning outcome (a student independently, but inconsistently, superficially, unclearly presents the essence of the question, understands the main definitions of the subject); 5 (weak) - knowledge and abilities meet the minimum requirements (a student independently but vaguely, without analysis, inconsistently presents the essence of the question, partially understands the basic definitions of the subject), 50-55 percentile of the intended learning outcome; 4,3,2,1 (insufficient) - the minimum requirements are not met.

Donatas Žvingila

PhD

Professor

Approved by the Council of Graduate School of Life Sciences Center No 600000-…-… on the …. of …… 2021

Chairman