B012537 - MOLECULAR ANTHROPOLOGY

Italian

Knolewdge acquired:
Structure of human genome; molecular evolution; genetic analyses on ancient and degraded biological remains for evolutionary studies and applications in conservation and safeguard of biological cultural heritage ( i.e restoring of Biological Archive).
Competence acquired:
DNA extraction methods from different substrates; using of molecular technologies for quantification amplification classic sequencing and ultra massive sequencing of DNA; use of bionformatic software for the reconstruction and analysis of ancient DNA sequence.
Skills acquired (at the end of the course):
Workflow: from the fossil to the molecule; the using of innovative bimolecular technologies to characterize ancient genomes in both evolutionary study than applicatory such as cultural heritage field; mechanisms of molecular evolution.

The human genome: structure and funcion; The Paleogentics. Ancient DNA from archaeological and paleontological remains. Criteria necessary to support the authenticity of DNA sequences retrieved from ancient specimens. Molecular methods in paleogenetics: Molecular Markers. Bionformatics. Applications and troubleshooting in paleogenetics. Paleogenetics lab.

Courses recommended: Anthropology, Molecular Biology

CFU:6

Contact hours for: Lectures (hours): 48
Contact hours for: Laboratory (hours): 20

Oral exam

Molecular anthropology: an overview . The structure of DNA. The genes. no coding DNA: function, size, and structure of repeated and intersperse sequences. The human chromosomes and the human karyotype. The no recombinant part of the human genome: no recombinant Region of Y chromosome, mitochondrial DNA . The diversity of the human genome. Single Nucleotide Substitutions (snps): transitions and trasversion, insertions and deletions of single nucleotides. Main processes that determines the onset of nucleotide substitutions. Mutations in no coding and coding region Diversity and snps distribution within the human genome. DNA microsatellites and minisatellites ; DNA fingerprinting. The mechanisms of molecular evolution. Models of molecular evolution. Reconstruction of populations dynamic from genetic data. Molecular clock: forcing the mutation rate. The genetic distances. Graphic displays of genetic distances: phylogenetic trees and networks. rooted not rooted trees, the importance of the polarization. The neighborjoining method of. The bootstrap method and the jacknife for statistical support. The method of maximum parsimony and : maximum likelihood. Network; Mr Bayes: Bayesian inference of phylogeny based upon a quantity called the posterior probability distribution of trees. Molecular analysis; DNA extraction: an overview of different types of extraction. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and its variants: multiplex PCR, PCR quantitative, real time PCR, arms PCR, nested PCR. Cloning of DNA fragments: blunt end and TA cloninig methods. Automatic DNA sequencing: Sanger method; genomic sequencing on large scale: the pyrosequencing. Ancient DNA a powerful tool in evolutionary biology; molecular technologies of ancient DNA; the problem of contamination; the golden criteria; how is an ancient DNA study? ; the ancient DNA and forensic DNA; ancient DNA and the reconstruction of the migratory movements of populations of the past; Models of human evolution: out of Africa and Multi regional model : comparing two hypothesis. Migration and the peopling of world : molecular approaches. Case studies.

Il DNA Antico Metodi di Analisi ed applicazioni, David Caramelli Martina Lari, 2004 Pontecorboli editore, Firenze

Antropologia Molecolare, David Caramelli, 2009, Firenze University Press, Firenze

Scientific peer rewiew papers.

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