BIOL 114 - DNA, Gene Technology, And You

Credits: 3

Description
This course is an introduction to genetics with emphasis on issues facing modern society. Topics covered include: the structure and function of DNA; the complexities of heredity; the purposes of cloning, genetic modification, and artificial selection; and the role of natural selection in the modification of population genetics. This course is intended to satisfy the general education requirement for a non-lab science.

Student Learning Outcomes

Describe the structure and organization of DNA, including base pairing, genes, alleles, chromosomes, and genomes.
Explain the process by which DNA is transcribed into RNA and translated into proteins, as well as some of the ways this process can be regulated.
Identify different types of mutations, and discuss the role of specific mutations in various genetic diseases and phenotypic traits.
Apply fundamental rules of inheritance, and discuss various complications to these fundamentals.
Compare the history, processes, purposes, and ethics of therapeutic cloning, reproductive cloning, and the genetic modification of organisms.
Compare the processes of artificial and natural selection, and describe the power these processes have to shape populations and species.
Explain the process of evolution by natural selection, and the concepts of speciation and common ancestry.

Prerequisite: None