This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Antibiotics are critical treatments for bacterial infections, but antibiotic resistance is a growing problem. Wastewater treatment plants may foster resistance development, since sewage contains both human pathogens and antibiotics or their metabolite. The activated sludge (AS) stage commonly used to treat sewage at these plants is especially microbe-rich and may encourage transfer of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) through reproduction (vertical transfer) or movement of mobile genetic elements (horizontal transfer). To learn more, a recent study profiled ARGs and their neighboring genes at five wastewater treatment plants on three continents. Overall, ARG abundance was lower in AS than in incoming sewage (IN). In addition, ARGs tended to colocalize with plasmids and other mobile genetic elements to a greater extent in IN than AS, indicating decreased horizontal transfer potential..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Students construct paper recombinant plasmids to simulate the methods genetic engineers use to create modified bacteria. They learn what role enzymes, DNA and genes play in the modification of organisms. For the particular model they work on, they isolate a mammal insulin gene and combine it with a bacteria's gene sequence (plasmid DNA) for production of the protein insulin.

Biology is designed for multi-semester biology courses for science majors. It is grounded on an evolutionary basis and includes exciting features that highlight careers in the biological sciences and everyday applications of the concepts at hand. To meet the needs of today’s instructors and students, some content has been strategically condensed while maintaining the overall scope and coverage of traditional texts for this course. Instructors can customize the book, adapting it to the approach that works best in their classroom. Biology also includes an innovative art program that incorporates critical thinking and clicker questions to help students understand—and apply—key concepts.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:List the different steps in prokaryotic transcriptionDiscuss the role of promoters in prokaryotic transcriptionDescribe how and when transcription is terminated

Designed for students without previous experience in techniques of cellular and molecular biology, this class teaches basic experimental techniques in cellular and molecular neurobiology. Experimental approaches covered include tissue culture of neuronal cell lines, dissection and culture of brain cells, DNA manipulation, synaptic protein analysis, immunocytochemistry, and fluorescent microscopy.

Fundamentals of Biology focuses on the basic principles of biochemistry, molecular biology, genetics, and recombinant DNA. These principles are necessary to understanding the basic mechanisms of life and anchor the biological knowledge that is required to understand many of the challenges in everyday life, from human health and disease to loss of biodiversity and environmental quality.
Course Format

This course has been designed for independent study. It consists of four units, one for each topic. The units can be used individually or in combination. The materials for each unit include:

Lecture Videos by MIT faculty.
Learning activities, including Interactive Concept Quizzes, designed to reinforce main concepts from lectures.
Problem Sets you do on your own and check your answers against the Solutions when you're done.
Problem Solving Video help sessions taught by experienced MIT Teaching Assistants.
Lists of important Terms and Definitions.
Suggested Topics and Links for further study.
Exams with Solution Keys.

Content Development

Eric Lander
Robert Weinberg
Tyler Jacks
Hazel Sive
Graham Walker
Sallie Chisholm
Dr. Michelle Mischke

Students learn how engineers apply their understanding of DNA to manipulate specific genes to produce desired traits, and how engineers have used this practice to address current problems facing humanity. They learn what genetic engineering means and examples of its applications, as well as moral and ethical problems related to its implementation. Students fill out a flow chart to list the methods to modify genes to create GMOs and example applications of bacteria, plant and animal GMOs.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Horizontal gene transfer helps shape bacterial communities and drives the spread of antibiotic resistance. Of the three horizontal gene transfer pathways, conjugation has been studied the most in the context of antibiotic resistance. Antibiotics themselves can trigger these transfers, but the impact of other types of pharmaceuticals in natural environments remains to be explored. To close this gap, researchers examined several common non-antibiotic pharmaceuticals in a model of wastewater treatment plant activated sludge. The tested compounds covered multiple drug classes including an anticonvulsant, a lipid-lowering drug, a β-blocker, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Environmentally relevant concentrations of the compounds promoted conjugative transfer of IncP1-α, a plasmid that carries antibiotic resistance. Exposure to these compounds spread IncP1-α across entire microbial communities..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This module provides an introduction to plasmids, small circular DNA molecules that replicate independently of the host cell DNA. The module focuses on yeast overexpression plasmids, which have replication origins and selectable markers that allow them to be propagated in either bacteria or yeast. The plasmids also contain promoters that control expression of a cloned gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In this module, students will:understand the various features that have been engineered into plasmids for experimental purposeslearn how the physical properties of plasmids are used in their purificationisolate plasmids from E. coli estimate plasmid concentration and purity using ultraviolet spectroscopyThis module is part of a semester-long introductory labortory course, Investigations in Molecular Cell Biology, at Boston College

In this module, students use a simple method to transform the budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, with yeast expression plasmids containing the GAL1 promoter. At the end of this module, students will be able to:explain the processes of transformation and complmentation at the molecular leveldesign a selection strategy to isolate transformed strains explain how plasmid-encoded genes can complement gene deficienciesuse replica plating on selective media to identify transformed strains expressing plasmid-encoded genesThis module is part of a semester-long introductory laboratory course, Investigations in Molecular Cell Biology, at Boston College.