edX DNA: Biology’s Genetic Code

Overview
DNA: Biology’s Genetic Code explores DNA structure, packaging, replication, and manipulation.

DNA encodes our genetic information and is passed on within cells to maintain living organisms and produce the next generation. In this biology course you will learn how the recognition of DNA as the genetic material and the ensuing identification of its structure and coding mechanism was both a revolutionary and foundational discovery. These discoveries led to transformational integration across the biological sciences with a common understanding of this fundamental unit of life!

The course utilizes video lectures, research articles, case studies, and molecular models to convey information. The course grade will be based on questions with each video lecture, quizzes, homework, and a final exam.

What you'll learn

• Methods that identified DNA as the genetic material
• Structure of DNA and methods for packaging DNA into the cell
• Impacts of packaging on DNA expression in higher organisms and passage of information with no change in DNA (epigenetics)
• Location-specific DNA expression in the cell
• Machinery for replicating DNA with an extremely low error rate
• Place of origin and timing for DNA replication
• Mechanisms for “preserving” the ends of linear DNA
• Types of damage that affect DNA structure and how DNA moves around
• Procedures to amplify DNA sequences and to determine base sequence
• Enzymes to fragment DNA into specific segments that can be separated
• Methods to recombine DNA segments from different sources
• Ways to introduce recombined DNA into cells, including human cells

Taught by
Kathleen Matthews and Elizabeth Eich