Hours per week
Objectives of the course (preferably expressed in terms of learning outcomes and competences): Basic understanding of microbial cell structure, function and regulatory mechanisms and the exploitation of this knowledge in biotechnology and medicine.
Course contents: The microbial world. Evolutionary significance and contribution to the biosphere. The bacterial cell as the minimal autonomous unit of life. The bacterial cell as a complex chemical machine: components, structures and energy conversion. Information flow from gene to protein-internal and external regulation. Complete bacterial genomes: a recipe for life. Differentiation and evolutionary change. Interactions of bacteria with other organisms-Symbiosis. Microbial ecology and systematics. Archaea, eukaryotic microbes, viruses. Microbes and man: from disease to agriculture to biotechnology.
The Department of Biology of the University of Crete was established in 1981 and is today an internationally recognized center for contemporary university education and research in the field of Biology.