BIOLOGY AND GENETICS

.Structure andfunctionsof biological macromolecules: carbohydrates,lipids, proteinsandnucleic acids.
Level of biological organization, and the relationships between structure and function
Diversityandunityoflife: the levels of organization and the cell asthe basicuniyoflife.The cellular theory: prokaryotic andeukaryoticcells,unicellularandmulticellular organisms. Theconceptofspecies. Evolutionarythinking: Darwin andtheevolutionarytheory. Proof ofevolution:importanceof taxonomy(classification of organisms),comparativeanatomyanddevelopmentalbiology (comparative embriology)for theunderstandingofevolution.The concepts of analogy, omology,ontogenesisandphylogenesis.

Origin of life:
earlyearthoxygenlessatmosphere and abioticsynthesis ofbiomolecules.Evolutionof prokaryoticcell: autotroph andheterotrophcells. Evolutionofeukaryotic cell:endosymbiontic originofmitochondria andchloroplastsorganelles. Theorigin ofautotrophmetabolism and itsconsequence onthe evolution oflife onearth.

Evolution and biology of the cell (with particolar emphasis on the relationships between structure and function)
Membranestructureandfunction.Membrane receptors.  Theendoplasmicreticulum. TheGolgiapparatus.Lysosomes. Ribosomes.Mitochondria andchloroplasts.Nucleus:geneticmaterials, cromosomes.Cell reproduction:the eukaryoticcellcycle:Mitosis andmeiosis.

Evolutionary Biology
Thetheoryofevolution: genetic variabilityand natural selection asthecoremechanismsof evolution. Sexualselection. Mechanisms ofevolutionandproof ofevolution. Populationgenetic, the Hrdy-Weinbergequilibrium andthesynthetic modern theoryofevolution(neodarwinism).Natural selectionandmutation asprincipalmechanisms of evolution,geneticdriftandmicroevolutionaryprocessess.Molecularevolution.Macroevolution:speciation (or theorigin ofspecies).Phylogenesis ofVertebrates.Evolution of man.

Animal Biology( with particular emphasis to vertebrates)
Asexualandsexualreproduction.Evolution and adaptive significanceofsexuality.Meiosisand sexual lifecycles. Gameteformation:spermatogenesis andoogenesis.Fertilisation andembryonicand fetaldevelopment (see conceptof omology,ontogenesisandphylogenesis ).Evoltionofneuroendocrinesystem:endocrineglands,  hormones asmessenger,steroidand peptidehormonemechanisms of action.Relationshipbetweenhypotalamus, pituitaryandbody target cell and regulation ofhormoneproduction andrelease.Hormonal regulationof reproductiveactivity ofvertebrateswithparticular attention toPrimates and hencehuman species.

Behavioral biology
Instinct,learningandmemory. Neuroendocrine control ofbehavior. Geneticand evolutionofbehavior.Social behavior:aggression, sexualselectionandreproductivestrategies. Relationshipbetween culturalandbiologicalevolution.

Genetics: the study of mechanism of heredity of characters
Mendel’sexperimentalapproach:thediscovery of the first(segregation)andsecond(independentassortment)lawof heredity and the developmentofthe theory ofheredity. Thetest-cross.The concept of gene,allele,genotype andphenotype. Dominant,recessivealleles,incompletedominance andcodominant alleles.Multiplealleles.Pleiotropy.Epistasis. Polygenicinheritance. Sex linkedgenesandchromosomaldetermination of sex. Thechromosomal theoryofinheritance.Geneticsignificance of mitosis andmeiosis.
The molecular basis of inheritance: the chemical nature of the gene.
ExperimentalevidencethatDNAis the genetic material. The discoveryof themolecularstructure ofDNA orthe  Watson and Crick doublehelix.DNAreplication in prokaryoticandeukaryotic organisms.
How genes work: from gene to protein
ThemRNAandthegenetic code. Transcription andtranslationofgeneticinstrction.Ribosomes and  tRNA. ProteinsynthesisinProkaryoticand eukaryoticorganisms. Exons and introns andsplicingofRNA. Thecontrol of genesexpression in prokaryotes: theoperon.Eukaryoticgene expression. 

Mutations
Pointmutations:substitution,insertions and deletionof base pair.Pointmutation asorigin of newalleles and geneticvariabilità ofpopulations(seeevolutionary biologyand microevolution).Chromosomemutations.