1. Biosphere formation

• Key events and conditions in history of Earth

• Model of biochemical and biological evolution

• Cellular life evolution

2. Microbial fueling

• Fundamentals of nutrition

• Metabolism

• Microbial fueling

• Biosynthesis

3. Microbial diversity I

• Physiological classification of life forms based on carbon sources, energy sources, oxygen requirements, temperature requirements, pH, etc.

• Tree of life

• Biological species concept

• Microbial species concept

• SSU rRNA

4. Microbial diversity II

• Provisional taxa

• Domain Eukarya

• Domain Bacteria

• Domain Archaea

• Habitats diversity

5. Microbial diversity analysis

• Culturing of microorganisms

• Molecular biological methods

• Metagenomics

6. Microbial ecology

• Structure and organization of microbial communities

• Biofilms

• Ecological interactions

7. Biogeochemical cycling I

• Introduction to biogeochemical cycling

• Carbon cycle

• Sulfur cycle

8. Biogeochemical cycling II

• Nitrogen cycle

• Phosphorus cycle

• Iron cycle

9. Biodegradation and bioremediation I

• Metabolic logic

• Evolution of biodegradation pathways

• C1 and C2 Pathways

• Aliphatic hydrocarbons biodegradation

• Cykloalkanes biodegradation

10. Biodegradation and bioremediation II

• Aromatics biodegradation

• Heterocyclic compounds biodegradation

• Triazine ring biodegradation

11. Biodegradation and bioremediation III

• Xenobiotics and pollutants

• Metals and metalloids

• Persistent organic pollutants (POPs)

• Strategies of biotransformation/biodegradation

12. Biodegradation and bioremediation IV

• Microbial bioremediation

• Phytoremediation and rhizoremediation

13. Phylogenetic analysis

• Alignments

• Phylogenetic trees

14. Summary, test