Microbes (bacteria, archaea and microbial eukaryotes, including fungi) are key members of our biosphere and are highly relevant for human life as mutualists and pathogens and as crucial drivers of nutrient cycling, agriculture, and many other aspects of our daily lives. The genomes of microbes provide a wealth of information on the processes and mechanisms that these organisms use in their environment. For instance, on mechanisms that pathogens use to overcome host immunity or antibiotics, or enzymes that fungi use to produce interesting metabolites that can be used in medicine or agriculture. Furthermore, microbes are commonly used as model systems to research molecules and molecular processes and to uncover how organisms function, develop, and interact with their environment.
In this course you will learn how to analyse genome data of individual microbes, but also of microbial communities (metagenomics). The first part of the course will be focused on basic bioinformatic skills (linux, bash, and command line tools) and the analysis of bacterial genomes. The second part will be focused on the analyses of eukaryotic microbes with a focus on fungal genomes, such as comparative approaches and gene expression analysis. The course will includetheoretical lectures, but will mainly consist of hands-on bioinformatic practicals. Therefore, interest to work with a computer is required (and desirable!).