Introduction to Molecular Biology

General features of DNA replication in prokaryotes and eukaryotes: Mechanisms of initiation, elongation and termination; telomerases: mechanism of replication, maintenance of integrity and role in cancer; Transcription: RNA polymerase subunits, different sigma factors- related to stress, viral infections etc., RNA synthesis; anti-termination, attenuation and other influences of translational apparatus on the process of transcription; eukaryotic promoters, enhancers, transcription factors, RNA polymerases; various protein motifs involved in DNA-protein interactions during transcription; translation: in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, processing of mRNA for translation and involvement of different translational factors at different stages of the process. DNA damage and repair: factors affecting DNA bases, identification and molecular characterization of repair enzymes in photo-reactivation, excision, recombination, and SOS pathways; recombination and transposition: models for homologous recombination meiotic recombination- mechanism, site-specific recombination and transposition, the double-stranded DNA breaks.