Difference between revisions of "Organization of genetics topics"

Revision as of 12:00, 22 August 2014

I am interested in what people thin the best organization of genetics topics might be.

Genetics is a vast, rapidly changing field. There are connections to other diverse fields such as psychology, law, medicine, history, and teaching. A classic way to divide genetics topics is into classical, molecular, and population genetics; however, I suspect this leaves out important areas.

The topics I would like an introductory genetics class to cover include:

• Mendelian Inheritance and Punnet Squares
• Complementation tests
• Genetic linkage and recombination
• metabolic pathways and epistasis
• gene structure, gene expression regulation, protein structure, and the central dogma
• genome structure and organization
• chromosomes, mitosis and meiosis, nondisjunction
• sex chromosomes and sex determination systems
• aneuploidy and polyploidy
• distinction between the germ-line and the soma
• mutations and their effects
• alleles and morphs
• penetrance and expressivity
• transposable elements
• pedigree analysis
• LOD scores
• the chi-square test and degrees of freedom
• quantitative genetics of complex traits and the regression
• methods of genetic engineering and germ line transformation
• genetic tools such as binary expression systems, PCR, Sanger sequencing, next generation sequencing, restriction endonucleases, and plasmid engineering
• forward genetics and reverse genetics
• personal genomics
• introductory developmental genetics
• the history of eugenics and laws regarding genetic data
• genetic pest management and selfish genes
• medical and cancer genetics
• genetic anthropology
• inbreeding and population structure
• average heterozygosity and effective population size
• X-inactivation, imprinting and epigenetics
• ---to be continued---