Course outline:

The course will aim to discuss the organisation and evolution of bacterial genomes and the networks that read the information contained in these genomes.
This will include the following areas:
1. A historical overview of human understanding of bacteria and their place in the tree of life
2. Bacterial genomes - and the minimal functions for cellular life, genome sizes and scaling laws
3. What makes a genome - information and “junk”
4. Forces underlying the evolution of bacterial genomes - mutation, genome reduction and genome growth
5. Organisation of bacterial genomes
6. Reading genomes - transcription, transcriptional networks and their evolution

Course outcome:

Students will learn to think about forces that decide how streamlined bacterial genomes have come to be. They will learn to appreciate the great diversity of
functions and adaptive strategies that the bacterial kingdom encompasses. They will also develop projects that will enable them to think about the role of adaptation in structuring bacterial genomes.