Syllabus for the ICAR SRF-NET Exam in Plant Biotechnology
Agricultural Biotechnology/Biotechnology/Molecular Biology & Biotechnology
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Unit 1: Cell Structure and Function
- Prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell architecture
- Cell wall, plasma membrane
- Structure and function of cell organelles: Nucleus, vacuoles, mitochondria, plastids, Golgi apparatus, ER, lysosomes, peroxisomes, glyoxisomes
- Cell cycle - Regulation of cell cycle
- Cell division, growth, and differentiation
- Protein secretion and targeting
- Transport across cell membrane
- Cell signaling
- Developmental biology of plants
- Programmed cell death (apoptosis)
- Cell renewal and cancer
- Stem cell applications
Unit 2: Biomolecules and Metabolism
- Structure and function of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids
- Synthesis of carbohydrates
- Glycolysis
- HMP
- Citric acid cycle and metabolic regulation
- Oxidative phosphorylation and substrate-level phosphorylation
- Vitamins, plant and animal hormones
- Functional molecules, antioxidants, nutrient precursors
- HSPs (Heat Shock Proteins)
- Anti-viral compounds
Unit 3: Enzymology
- Enzymes - structure, conformation, classification
- Assay, isolation, purification, and characterization of enzymes
- Catalytic specificity
- Mechanism of action
- Active site
- Regulation of enzyme activity
- Multienzyme complexes
- Immobilized enzymes and protein engineering
- Application of immobilized enzymes
Unit 4: Molecular Genetics
- Concept of a gene
- Prokaryotes as a genetic system
- Prokaryotic and eukaryotic chromosomes
- Methods of gene isolation and identification
- Split genes, overlapping genes, and pseudogenes
- Organization of prokaryotic and eukaryotic genes and genomes, including operon, exon, intron, enhancer, promoter sequences, and other regulatory elements
- Mutation - spontaneous, induced, and site-directed
- Recombination in bacteria, fungi, and viruses
- Transformation, transduction, conjugation
- Transposable elements and transposition
Unit 5: Gene Expression
- Expression of genetic information
- Operon concept
- Mechanism of transcription in prokaryotes and eukaryotes
- Transcription unit
- Regulatory sequences and enhancers
- Activators and repressors
- Co-activators and co-repressors in prokaryotes and eukaryotes
- Inducible genes and promoters
- Transcription factors
- Post-transcriptional modification and protein transport
- DNA-protein interaction
- Genetic code
- Mechanism of translation and its control
- Post-translational modifications
- Epigenetic control of gene expression
- Regulatory RNA in gene regulation - Small RNAs, RNA interference, and its applications
Unit 6: Molecular Biology Techniques
- Isolation and purification of nucleic acids
- Nucleic acids hybridization: Southern, northern, and western blotting hybridization
- Immune response, monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies, and ELISA
- DNA sequencing
- Construction and screening of genomic and cDNA libraries
- Gel electrophoretic techniques
- Spectroscopy
- Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), real-time PCR, RT-PCR
- Ultracentrifugation, chromatography, FISH, RIA, etc.
- Next-generation genome sequencing techniques
- Basic bioinformatics
- Microarray, etc.
- Proteomics, 2D, and protein sequencing
- Metabolomics
Unit 7: Gene Cloning
- DNA manipulative and modifying enzymes - restriction enzymes and their uses
- Salient features and uses of most commonly used vectors: plasmids, bacteriophages, phagemids, cosmids, BACs, PACs, and YACs, binary vectors, expression vectors
- Gateway cloning vectors
- Gene cloning and sub-cloning strategies
- Chromosome walking
- Genetic transformation
- Basis of animal cloning
- Gene pyramiding and gene fusion
- Ribozyme technology
- Biological risk assessment and IPR (Intellectual Property Rights)
Unit 8: Molecular Biology
- Genome complexity - C value and C-value paradox; DNA re-association kinetics
- Analysis of repetitive sequences
- Molecular events in DNA replication, transcription, and translation
- RNA processing and post-transcriptional modifications
- Ribosome structure and function
- Protein biosynthesis in prokaryotes and eukaryotes
- Post-translational modification
- Gene regulation
- DNA damage - types and repair mechanisms
- Bioprospecting
- Non-coding RNA
Unit 9: Plant Molecular Biology
- Photoregulation and phytochrome regulation of nuclear and chloroplastic gene expression
- Molecular mechanism of nitrogen fixation
- Advances in conversion of C3 to C4 pathway
- Molecular biology of various stresses: abiotic stresses like drought, salt, heavy metals, and temperature; biotic stresses like bacterial, fungal, and viral diseases
- Signal transduction and its molecular basis
- Molecular mechanism of plant hormone action
- Hormone regulatory pathways
- Mitochondrial control of fertility
- Structure, organization, and regulation of nuclear genes concerning storage proteins and starch synthesis
- Crop genome sequencing projects
Unit 10: Tissue Culture
- Basic techniques in cell culture and somatic cell genetics
- Clonal propagation
- Concept of cellular totipotency
- Androgenesis and gynogenesis
- Somaclonal and gametoclonal variations
- Hybrid embryo culture and embryo rescue
- Somatic hybridization and cybridization
- Application of tissue culture in crop improvement
- Secondary metabolite production
- In vitro mutagenesis
- Cryopreservation and plant tissue culture repository
- Synthetic seeds
- Virus indexing
- Unit 11: Plant Genetic Engineering
- Isolation of genes of economic importance
- Gene constructs for tissue-specific expression
- Different methods of gene transfer to plants: direct and vector-mediated
- Molecular analysis of transformants
- RNAi technology
- Cisgenesis
- Molecular pharming, bioremediation
- GM detection methods
- Resistance management strategies for target traits
- Potential applications of plant genetic engineering for crop improvement
- Insect-pest resistance (insect, viral, fungal, and bacterial disease resistance)
- Abiotic stress resistance
- Herbicide resistance
- Storage protein quality
- Increasing shelf-life
- Oil quality
- Biofortification
- Genetic engineering for pollination control
- Induction of male sterility in plants
- Current status of transgenics, biosafety norms, and controlled field trials and release of transgenics (GMOs)
- IPR
- Genome editing techniques
Unit 12: Molecular Markers and Genomics
- DNA molecular markers: Principles, types, and applications
- Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP)
- Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA sequences (RAPD)
- Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP)
- Simple sequence repeats (SSR)
- Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)
- DaRT, SRAP, TRAP markers
- Structural and functional genomics
- Gene mapping
- Genome mapping: GWAS and Genomic selection
- Gene tagging and comparative genomics and application of genomics
- TILLING and ECOTILLING applications
- Development of mapping population and types of mapping populations: RILs, NILs, F2, BILs, DH, MAGIC, Mutant populations
- Linkage mapping
- Association mapping
- Molecular mapping of complex traits
- Marker Assisted Selection (MAS)
- Other applications of markers: MABC, MARS, and Genomic Selection
- DNA fingerprinting and barcoding
- Phylogeography, conservation genetics
- DNA chips and their use in transcriptome analysis
- Mutants and RNAi in functional genomics
- Proteomics, Metabolomics, and ionomics
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