Functional Genomics and the Molecular Basis of Differentiation

The objective of the course is to provide students with: 1) a general overview on the principal methods for the study of bacterial genomes (genome sequencing techniques, genome annotation, phylogenetic studies); 2) a general overview on metagenomics and meta-trancriptomics analyses; 3) a practical approach for gene analyses, sequences alignment and comparison, use of the principal data bases, phylogenetic reconstructions.
In addition, the course provides students with information and training in the advances in the understanding of the molecular basis of genomic and epigenetic mechanisms in gene expression in livestock species. In detail the objective of the course is to provide students with 1) a general overview of the OMIC technologies used to study the primary structure of DNA, 2) detailed knowledge of the use of OMIC technologies in epigenetics 3) a general overview of epigenetics and role of epigenetic changes in development and cell differentiation

At the end of the course, the student will be able to plan experiments for the study of microbial communities, genomes sequencing and annotation and phylogenetic relationship between organisms. The practical approach of the course will introduce the student to bioinformatics with the use of tools capable to study genomes and the interaction between organisms.
In addition, the students will acquire knowledge on epigenetics changes on DNA and their effect on gene regulation and cell differentiation. Furthermore, the students will have a detailed overview on the new techniques applied to epigenetic profiling and acquire expertise on ENCODE database.