This schedule very tentative and is subject to continuous change as the semester progresses; click on the title of any posted lecture to go to that lecture page.

Date	Format	Topic	Status	Audio
Jan 7	Lecture 1	Introduction	Updated 1/7/09
Jan 9	Discussion 1	Canine Transmissible Venereal Tumor	Updated 1/23/09
Jan 12	Lecture 2	Context & Historical Baggage	Posted 1/4/09
Jan 14	Lecture 3	Molecular Clocks	Posted 1/4/09
Jan 16	Discussion 2	How the Lab Isolations Work	Posted 1/4/09
Jan 19	NO CLASS	MLK Day
Jan 21	Lecture 4	Constructing Phylogenetic Trees	Posted 1/4/09
Jan 23	Discussion 3	Problem Set Workshop	Posted 1/4/09
Jan 26	Lecture 5	Tree Construction Alternatives	Updated 1/25/09
Jan 28	Lecture 6	Other Phylogenetic approaches	Updated 1/25/09
Jan 30	Discussion 4	Exam Study Session	Posted 1/30/09
Feb 2	Lecture 7	The Tree of Life	Posted 1/4/09
Feb 4	Exam	Midterm Exam #1
Feb 6	Discussion 5	Hot Springs of Yellowstone	Posted 1/4/09
Feb 9	Lecture 8	Primitive Thermophilic Bacteria	Posted 1/11/09
Feb 11	Lecture 9	Green Phototrophic Bacteria	Posted 1/11/09
Feb 13	Discussion 6	Nanobacteria	Revised 2/11/09
Feb 16	Lecture 10	Proteobacteria	Posted 1/13/09
Feb 18	Lecture 11	Gram-positive Bacteria	Posted 1/20/09
Feb 20	Discussion 7	Detection of Yersina pestis DNA in ancient teeth	Posted 1/7/09
Feb 23	Lecture 12	Spirochaetes & Bacteroids	Updated 2/22/09
Feb 25	Lecture 13	Deinococci, Planctomycetes & Chlamydia	Posted 1/27/09
Feb 27	NO CLASS	Discussion session canceled
Mar 2	NO CLASS	Spring Break
Mar 4	NO CLASS	Spring Break
Mar 6	NO CLASS	Spring Break
Mar 9	Lecture 14	Bacterial Phyla with Few or No Cultivated Members	Updated 3/9/09
Mar 11	Lecture 16	Archaea	Posted 1/28/09
Mar 13	Discussion 8	The Term Project	Posted 1/7/08
Mar 16	Lecture 17	Microbial Eukaryotes	Revised 3/11/09
Mar 18	Lecture  9	Viruses & Prions	Revised 3/19/09
Mar 20	Discussion  9	Exam Study Session	Posted 3/10/09
Mar 23	Exam	Midterm Exam #2
Mar 25	Lecture 18	Molecular Ecology: Basic Sequence-based Approaches	Posted 3/23/09
Mar 27	Discussion 10	Programmed cell death and colony growth in Streptomyces	Posted 3/26/09
Mar 30	Lecture 19	Molecular Ecology: Advanced Sequence-based Approaches	Posted 3/30/09
Apr 1	Lecture 20	Molecular Ecology: Population-based Approaches	Posted 3/30/09
Apr 3	Discussion 11	Pelagibacter ubique / SAR11	Posted 3/2/09
Apr 6	Lecture 21	Linking Phylotype and Phenotype	Posted 3/31/09
Apr 8	Lecture 22	Genomics, Comparative Genomics, & Metagenomics	Posted 4/5/09
Apr 10	NO CLASS	Spring Holiday
Apr 13	Lecture 23	Bacterial Cell Biology	Posted 4/10/09
Apr 15	Lecture 24	Microbial Symbiosis	Posted 4/10/09
Apr 17	Discussion 12	The deep sea vent scaly snail	Posted 4/14/09
Apr 20	Lecture 25	Microbial Multicellularity	Posted 4/18/09
Apr 22	Lecture 26	The Origin & Early Evolution of Life	Posted 4/21/09
Apr 24	Discussion 13	Final Exam Study Session	Posted 4/21/09
May 4	Exam	Final Exam - 8:00AM

Lecture Sessions

The format of the Monday and Wednesday lectures is traditional. The lecture series can be divided into three very different sections:

Part 1 - Molecular Phylogenetics
The first section begins with some preliminaries; defining the scope of the course, defining the perspective, providing a historical context, &c. The main part of this section is a practical guide to molecular phylogenetic analysis, focusing on how to create and interpret phylogenetic trees, and a overview of “the Tree of Life”.

Part 2 - Microbial Survey
The second section is a tour through each of the major phylogenetic groups of Bacteria and Archaea (microbial eukaryotes and viruses are also covered briefly), discussing the general properties of the organisms in each group, and describing in more detail some specific representatives. One or two general topics raised by these organisms will be discussed in each lecture.

Part 3 - Microbial Ecology & Complexity
The third section is more conceptual and experimentally defined, making heavy use of the primary research literature. This section discusses how molecular phylogenetic analysis is used by microbiologists, from identification of unknown and potentially uncultivable organisms, to molecular surveys of populations, and linking processes with specific organisms. This leads to a discussion of various conceptual aspects of microbial complexity, from genomics and cell biology.

Discussion Sessions

The discussion sessions are Fridays, and are used to review background material, go over problem sets or exams, hash over difficult concepts from different angles, chat about microbiologically-oriented things in the news, interesting scientific papers, etc. The format of these discussion sessions is informal, being student-driven on a daily basis.

There is no formal textbook for this course; no good text exists! Whatever book you used in MB 351, or any other recent, good general microbiology textbook, can serve in this course for background information. The best of these is Brock Biology of Microorganisms.

Attendance in lectures is strongly encouraged, but attendance will not be recorded or used in determining grades.

Students who are absent without a formal excuse are still subject to exam and assignment deadlines and late fines. Students who are absent with a formal excuse will be given one extra week to turn in their assignments or take exams, or as negotiated with the instructor.

University attendance policy (http://www.ncsu.edu/policies/academic_affairs/pols_regs/REG205.00.4.php)