551-0003-AAL  General Biology I+II

SemesterSpring Semester 2018
LecturersU. Sauer, R. Aebersold, W. Gruissem, O. Y. Martin, A. Widmer
Periodicityevery semester recurring course
Language of instructionEnglish
CommentEnrolment ONLY for MSc students with a decree declaring this course unit as an additional admission requirement.

Any other students (e.g. incoming exchange students, doctoral students) CANNOT enrol for this course unit.


AbstractGeneral Biology I: Organismic biology to teach the basic principles of classical and molecular genetics, evolutionary biology and phylogeny.

General Biology II: Molecular biology approach to teach the basic principles of biochemistry, cell biology, cgenetics, evolutionary biology and form and function of vacular plants.
ObjectiveGeneral Biology I: The understanding of basic principles of biology (inheritance, evolution and phylogeny) and an overview of the diversity of life.

General Biology II: The understanding basic concepts of biology: the hierarchy of the structural levels of biological organisation, with particular emphasis on the cell and its molecular functions, the fundamentals of metabolism and molecular genetics, as well as form and function of vascular plants.
ContentGeneral Biology I:
General Biology I focuses on the organismal biology aspects of genetics, evolution and diversity of life in the Campbell chapters 12-34.

Week 1-7 by Alex Widmer, Chapters 12-25
12 Cell biology Mitosis
13 Genetics Sexual life cycles and meiosis
14 Genetics Mendelian genetics
15 Genetics Linkage and chromosomes
20 Genetics Evolution of genomes
21 Evolution How evolution works
22 Evolution Phylogentic reconstructions
23 Evolution Microevolution
24 Evolution Species and speciation
25 Evolution Macroevolution

Week 8-14 by Oliver Martin, Chapters 26-34
26 Diversity of Life Introdution to viruses
27 Diversity of Life Prokaryotes
28 Diversity of Life Origin & evolution of eukaryotes
29 Diversity of Life Nonvascular&seedless vascular plants
30 Diversity of Life Seed plants
31 Diversity of Life Introduction to fungi
32 Diversity of Life Overview of animal diversity
33 Diversity of Life Introduction to invertebrates
34 Diversity of Life Origin & evolution of vertebrates


General Biology II: The structure and function of biomacromolecules; basics of metabolism; tour of the cell; membrane structure and function; basic energetics of cellular processes; respiration, photosynthesis; cell cycle, from gene to protein; structure and growth of vascular plants, resource acquisition and transport, soil and plant nutrition.

Specifically the following Campbell chapters will be covered:
3 Biochemistry Chemistry of water
4 Biochemistry Carbon: the basis of molecular diversity
5 Biochemistry Biological macromolecules and lipids
7 Cell biology Cell structure and function
8 Cell biology Cell membranes
10 Cell biology Respiration: introduction to metabolism
10 Cell biology Cell respiration
11 Cell biology Photosynthetic processes
16 Genetics Nucleic acids and inheritance
17 Genetics Expression of genes
18 Genetics Control of gene expression
19 Genetics DNA Technology
35 Plant structure&function Plant Structure and Growth
36 Plant structure&function Transport in vascular plants
37 Plant structure&function Plant nutrition
38 Plant structure&function Reproduction of flowering plants
39 Plant structure&function Plants signal and behavior
Lecture notesNo script
LiteratureCampbell et al. (2015) Biology - A Global Approach. 10th Edition (Global Edition)
Prerequisites / NoticeBasic general and organic chemistry


This is a virtual self-study lecture for non-German speakers of the "Allgemeine Biology I (551-0001-00L) and "Allgemeine Biology II (551-0002-00L) lectures. The exam will be written jointly with the participants of this lecture.