基因组学是现代生命科学中众多“组学”研究方法的核心,越来越受到高校生物教学的重视,但目前关于其教学方法的研究报道较少。文章以大肠杆菌致病因子的比较基因组学教学作为一个专题教学实例,展示探究式教学法在基因组学课程中的应用。学生首先以Mauve软件比较不同大肠杆菌的基因组,分析基因的保守性,并以BLAST检索基因的功能注释信息,从而鉴定其是否为致病因子基因。在该专题教学中,整个教学过程通过情境、资源、任务、过程、评价5个模块来组织实施。教学效果表明,通过探究式教学的应用,学生在掌握基因组学课程知识与专业技能的基础上,提高了科研兴趣与自主学习能力。此外,该专题教学内容还可应用于其他相关课程如微生物学、生物信息学、分子生物学及食品安全检测技术等。

Genomics is the core subject of various “omics” and it also becomes a topic of increasing interest in undergraduate curricula of biological sciences. However, the study on teaching methodology of genomics courses was very limited so far. Here we report an application of inquiry-based teaching in genomics courses by using virulence factors of Escherichia coli as an example of comparative genomics study. Specially, students first built a multiple-genome alignment of different E. coli strains to investigate the gene conservation using the Mauve tool; then putative virulence factor genes were identified by using BLAST tool to obtain gene annotations. The teaching process was divided into five modules: situation, resources, task, process and evaluation. Learning-assessment results revealed that students had acquired the knowledge and skills of genomics, and their learning interest and ability of self-study were also motivated. Moreover, the special teaching case can be applied to other related courses, such as microbiology, bioinformatics, molecular biology and food safety detection technology.