Atmosphere, Solar Radiation, Microbes, and You

Reading

Electromagnetic Radiation- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Electromagnetic_radiation

Atmospheric Composition- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Atmospheric_composition

Photosynthesis- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Photosynthesis

Expected Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course a fully engaged student should be able to

- Discuss electromagnetic energy and identify the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is used for photosynthesis

- discuss the composition of the atmosphere

- identify organisms capapble of photosynthesis

- define carbon fixation

- briefly discuss what happens in the light dependent reactions of photosynthesis

- briefly discuss what happens in the light independent reactions of photosynthesis

- discuss the processes involved in cycling organic carbon to carbon dioxide and back in aerobic and anaerobic environments.

- define the photo zone

- discuss conditions at the bottom of the ocean

-

Writing Assignment #2

Here are some recent news articles that address some of the issues that we have covered in class.

Nobel prize for chemistry: antibiotics scientists share 2009 award
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6268585/Nobel-prize-for-chemistry-antibiotics-scientists-share-2009-award.html

Dangerous liaisons: Bacterial 'sex' causes antibiotic resistance
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2009/06/11/dangerous.liaisons.bacterial.sex.causes.antibiotic.resistance
TIMELY ASSIGNMENT NOTE- The play "Dangerous Liaisons" is being performed on campus this weekend.

Obama, Farm Industry Clash Over Antibiotics
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/07/farmantibiotic/

Assignment

Write a 1-2 page organized paper dealing with 1 or more of these topics. Include in your paper:

An Introduction-Set up the problem at hand and its general importance

Body-discuss why this topic is important to medicine, human health and society at large; what are pros and cons of different perspectives on these issues

Coda-Your own thoughts about the future related to the topic

Important Dates

Rough Draft Due- Tuesday October 20

Workshop- Thursday October 22

Final Draft Due- Tuesday October 27

Literature cited-References

Targets of Antibiotics and Mechanisms of Antibiotic Resistance

Readings

Targets of Antibiotics (figure)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=mboc4.figgrp.4624

How antibiotics work: the mechanisms of action
http://www.tufts.edu/med/apua/Miscellaneous/mechanisms.html

Antibiotics that affect the cell envelope
http://pathmicro.med.sc.edu/fox/antibiotics1.htm

Mechanisms of Antibiotic Resistance in the Microbial World
http://www.moleculartb.org/gb/pdf/transcriptions/11_YZhang.pdf

Expected Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course a fully engaged student should be able to

- discuss the targets of antibiotics
- discuss the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance
- pronounce "efflux" correctly

Antibiotic Resistance

Further Reading

Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance-
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/10/4/l_104_03.html

Antibiotic resistance: Questions and Answers- CDC
http://www.cdc.gov/getsmart/antibiotic-use/anitbiotic-resistance-faqs.html

Antibiotic resistance- delaying the inevitable (parts 1 and 2) UC Berkeley
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/relevance/IA1antibiotics2.shtml

HIV the ultimate evolver (parts 1-3) UC Berkeley
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/relevance/IA2HIV.shtml

Resisting our drugs-
http://understandingevolution.com/evolibrary/article/0_0_0/bergstrom_03

Turbochared evolution-
http://understandingevolution.com/evolibrary/article/side_0_0/turboevolution_01

Relevance of evolution:medicine-
http://understandingevolution.com/evolibrary/article/0_0_0/medicine_01

Powerpoint Presentation

Here is a link the the powerpoint presentation I used in class.

http://www.slideshare.net/secret/rPekyBdLalUvFY

Expected Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course a fully engaged students should be able to

- discuss the causes of the development of antibiotic resistance

- discuss where antibiotics come from

- discuss what we have learned from ecology and evolutionary biology about potentila problems associated with antibiotic use

- discuss what we have learned from evolutionary biology that should help us fight microbial diseases more effectively

Sex Lives of Bacteria

Reading

Genetic recombination in bacteria
http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/A/Avery.html

Recombination in bacteria
http://www.emunix.emich.edu/~rwinning/genetics/bactrec.htm

Expected Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course a fully engaged students should be able to

- discuss how mutation, transformation, conjugation, and transduction adds to the genetic variation of bacteria.

Microbes and the Evolution of Sex

Based on our understanding of natural selection, at first glance sexual reproduction doesn't appear to be advantageous from the female perspective (due to the two-fold cost of sex). However, the fact that sexual reproduction is so common in all groups of organisms suggests that there must be some major benefits of sex that outweight the costs.

Reading

The Advantages of Sex- Matt Ridley
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/sex/advantage/index.html

Expected Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course a fully engaged student should be able to

- explain "the two-fold costs of sex"
- discuss possible benefits of sexual reproduction including adaptation to environmental uncertainty and fighting disease
- be able to discuss the problem of the evolution of antiobiotic resistant microbes
- be able to discuss what the medical field may be able to learn from observing how nature fights disease.