Biology I. - DA1102338

• Title: Biology I.
• Guaranteed by: Department of Biology and Medical Genetics (13-716)
• Faculty: Second Faculty of Medicine
• Actual: from 2024
• Semester: summer
• Points: 4
• E-Credits: 4
• Examination process: summer s.:
• Hours per week, examination: summer s.:28/28, C [HS]
• Extent per academic year: 14 [weeks]
• Capacity: unlimited / unlimited (unknown)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Guarantor: RNDr. Eduard Kočárek, Ph.D.
• Teacher(s): RNDr. Šárka Bendová, Ph.D.; RNDr. Eduard Kočárek, Ph.D.; MUDr. Radka Kremlíková Pourová, Ph.D.; prof. Ing. Zdeněk Sedláček, DrSc.; MUDr. Pavel Tesner, Ph.D.; doc. MUDr. Markéta Vlčková, Ph.D.
• Is pre-requisite for: DA1103040, DA1104339

Annotation

It is a compulsory subject and one of the basic theoretical subjects of the profile foundation. It provides the student with knowledge and skills in the field of biology, which is a prerequisite for further successful study in higher years.

Last update: Bendová Šárka, RNDr., Ph.D. (20.02.2026)

Literature

Literature for Biology I. + II.

• Your notes from lectures and practical classes and presentations and other materials from classes archived in MOODLE. We also recommend studying the presentations from Cell (archived in TEAMS).

• Pritchard DJ and Korf BR. Medical Genetics at a Glance. 3rd Edition. Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.

• Passarge E. Color Atlas of Genetics. Thieme Verlag, 2017.

• Alberts B. Molecular Biology of the Cell. W. W. Norton & Company, 2022

• Tobias ES, Connor M and Ferguson-Smith M. Essential Medical Genetics, Wiley, 2011.

• Křenová D., Otová B. How to Practise Biological and Medical Genetics. 3rd Edition. Praha: Karolinum, 2017

Last update: Dimitriou Alena, Mgr. (25.02.2026)

Syllabus

BIOLOGY I.

First year, summer term

History of biology (ancient Greek scholars, Darwin, Mendel, Galton, misuse of genetics, Griffith, Avery, Watson, Crick, the central dogma, HGP)

Cell cycle and its regulation (microscopes and microscopic observation, cell cycle and its checkpoints, mitosis, meiosis, cyclins, cyclin-dependent kinases, cultivation of cells, types of cell cultures)

Cytogenetics (structure of chromosome, telomeres, types of chromosomes, human karyotype, sex determination, X chromosome inactivation, cytogenetic examination, classification of chromosome abnormalities, polyploidies, aneuploidies, mosaicism, structure chromosome abnormalities, assisted reproduction techniques and their ethical issues, preimplantation genetic diagnostics, molecular cytogenetics, FISH technique)

Basic laws and modes of heredity, clinical genetics (genetic counseling: indication, methods, pedigrees, Mendel laws, monogenic inheritance, genomic imprinting, dihybridism and gene interactions, mitochondrial inheritance, interaction of non-allelic genes, multifactorial inheritance, screening in pregnancy, prenatal diagnosis)

Population genetics (definitions, genetic variability, the Hardy-Weinberg law and its use, evolutionary factors and their impact, non-random mating, mutation, selection, gene drift, gene flow, migration)

Biology of prokaryotes and viruses (archebacteria, eubacteria, prokaryotic cell, reproduction of bacteria, basic structure of viruses, viral nucleic acids, life strategy of viruses, virusoids, prions)

Evolution (origin of life, prebiotic evolution, evolution theories, evolution of life on Earth, human ancestors, Neanderthals, Denisovans, origin of Homo sapiens, polycentric and multicentre models, the concept of mitochondrial Eve)

Ecology and ecogenetics (ecogenetics – definition, interspecific relationships, symbiosis, holobionts, human microbiome, parasitism, classification of parasites, life strategy and reproduction of parasites, the effect of parasites on the human body, mutagenic and carcinogenic substances in human environment, genotoxicity tests)

Last update: Bendová Šárka, RNDr., Ph.D. (20.02.2026)