Microbial populations are a key component of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and are responsible for mediating a number of important functions, including nutrient cycling and biogeochemical transformations. Molecular biology tools now allow us to describe the diversity and structure of microbial communities in natural systems, and relate these to environmental drivers and ecosystem function. There is a major emphasis on the application of "omics" approaches to determine the identities and functions of microbes inhabiting different environments.
Course Outline
Introduction
1.Nucleic acid recovery from environmental samples
2.Prokaryotic systematics:
3.DNA fingerprinting of microbial communities
4.Molecular typing of environmental isolates
5.Expression analysis of functional genes
6.Quantification of environmental microbes
7.Microbial ecology and genomics
8.Molecular detection of uncultured microorganisms
9.Bioremediation
10.Bioinformatics and web resources for phylogenetic analyses