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Syllabus of CSIR-UGC NET JRF (LIFE SCIENCE)

Detailed syllabus of paper I (section B) and paper II is given below:

PAPER I – SECTION B

1. Cell Biology:  Structure and function of cells and intracellular organelles (of both prokaryotes and eukaryotes), mechanism of cell division (including mitosis and meiosis) cell differentiation: Cell-cell interaction malignant growth, immune response: Dosage compensation and mechanism of sex determination

2. Biochemistry: Structure of atoms, molecules and chemical bonds; principles of physical chemistry: Thermodynamics, Kinetics, dissociation and association constants; Nucleic acid structure, genetic code, replication, transcription and translation: Structure, function and metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins; Enzymes and coenzyme; Respiration and photosynthesis.

3. Physiology: Response to stress: 'Active transport across membrane ; Plant and animal hormones: Nutrition (including vitamins); Reproduction in plants, microbes and animals.

4. Genetics: Principles of Mendelian inheritance, chromosome 'Structure and-function; Gene Structure and regulation of gene expression: Linkage and genetic mapping; Extrachromosomal inheritance (episomes, mitochondria and chloroplasts); Mutation: DNA damage and repair, chromosome aberration: Transposons; Sex-linked inheritance and genetic disorders; Somatic cell genetics; Genome organization (in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes).

5. Evolutionary Biology: Origin of life (including aspects of prebiotic environment and molecular evolution); Concepts of evolution; Theories of organic evolution; Mechanisms of speciation; Hardy Weinberg genetic equilibrium, genetic polymorphism and selection; Origin and evolution of economically important microbes, plants and animals.

6. Environmental Biology: Concept and dynamics or ecosystem, components, food chain and energy flow, productivity and biogeochemical cycles; Types of ecosystems, Population ecology and biological control;Community structure and organisation;Environmental pollutionSustainable development; Economic importance of microbes, plants and animals

7. Biodiversity and Taxonomy: Species concept; Biological nomenclature theories of biological classification, Structural biochemical and molecular systematic; DNA finger printing, numerical taxonomy, Biodiversity, characterization, generation maintenance and loss; Magnitude and distribution of biodiversity, economic value, wildlife biology, conservation strategies, cryopreservation.

PAPER II

1. Principles of Taxonomy as applied to the systemic and Classification of Plant Kingdom: Taxonomic structure; Biosystematics; Plant geography; Floristic.

2. Patterns of variation in morphology and life history in plants; Broad outlines of classification AND evolutionary trends among algae, fungi, bryophytes and pteridophytes; Principles of palaeobotany; Economic importance of algae, fungi and lichens.

3. Comparative anatomy and developmental morphology of gymnosperms and angiosperms; Histochemical and ultra structural aspects of development; Differentiation and morphogenesis.

4. Androgensis and gynogenesis; Breeding system; Pollination biology; structural and functional aspects of pollen and pistil; Male sterility; Self and inter-specific incompatibility; Fertilization; Embryo and seed development.

5. Plants and civilization; Centre of origin and gene diversity; Botany, utilization, cultivation and improvement of plants of food, drug, fiber and industrial values, Unexploited plants of potential economic value; Plants as a source of renewable energy; Genetic resources and their conservation.

6. Water Relation; Mineral nutrition; Photosynthesis and photorespiration; Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Sulphur metabolism; Stomatal physiology; Source and sink relationship.

7. Physiology and biochemistry and seed dormancy and germination; Hormonal regulation of growth and development; Photo regulation: Growth responses, Physiology of flowering: Senescence.

8. Principles of plant breeding; important conventional methods of breeding self and cross-pollinated and vegetatively propagated crops; Non conventional methods; Polyploidy: Genetic variability; Plant diseases and defensive

Mechanisms.

9. Principles of taxonomy as applied to the systematics and classification of the animal kingdom; Classification and interrelationship amongst the major invertebrate phyla; Minor invertebrate phyla, Functional anatomy of the Nonchordates; Larval forms and their evolutionary significance.

10. Classification and comparative anatomy of protochordates and chordates; Origin, evolution and distribution of Chordates groups: Adaptive radiation.

11. Histology of mammalian organ systems, nutrition, digestion and absorption; Circulation (open and closed circular, lymphatic systems, blood composition and function); Muscular contraction and electric organs; Excretion and osmoregulation: Nerve conduction and neurotransmitters; major sense organs and receptors; Homeostatis (neural and hormonal); Bioluminescence; Reproduction.

12. Gametogenesis in animals: Molecular events during fertilization, Cleavage patterns and fate maps, Concepts of determination, competence and induction, totipotency and nuclear transfer experiments: Cell differentiation and differential gene activity: Morphogenetic determinants in egg cytoplasm; Role of maternal contributions in early embryonic development; Genetic regulations of early embryonic development in Drosophila; Homeotic genes.

13. Feeding, learning, social and sexual behavior of animals; Parental care; Circadian rhythms; Mimicry; Migration of fishes and birds; Sociobiology; Physiological adaptation at high altitude

14. .Important human and veterinary parasites (protozoans and helminthes); Life cycle and biology of Plasmodium, Trypanosoma, Ascaris, Wuchereria, Fasciola, Schistosoma and Leishmania; Molecular, cellular and physiological

Basis of host - parasite interactions.

15. Arthropods and vectors of human diseases (mosquitoes, lice, flies and ticks); Mode of transmission of pathogens by vectors,; Chemical, biological and environmental control of anthropoid vectors; Biology and control of chief insect pests of agricultural importance; Plant host-insect interaction, insect pest management; useful insects: Silkworm

16. The law of DNA constancy and C-value paradox; Numerical, and structural changes in chromosomes; Molecular basis of spontaneous and induced mutations and their role in evolution; Environmental mutagenesis and toxicity

Testing; Population genetics.

17. Structure of pro-and eukaryotic cells; membrane structure and function; intracellular compartments, protein sorting, secretory and endocytic pathway; cytoskeleton, nucleus; mitochondria and chloroplast and their genetic organization; cell cycle; structure and organization of chromatin; polytene and lamp brush chromosomes; dosage compensation and sex determination and sex linked inheritance.

18. Interactions between environment and biota; Concept of habitat and ecological niches; Limiting factor; Energy flow, food chain, food web and tropic levels; Ecological pyramids and recycling, biotic community-concept, structure,

Dominance, fluctuation and succession; N.P.C. and S cycles in nature

19. Ecosystem dynamics and management; Stability and complexity of ecosystems; Speciation and extinctions; environmental impact assessment; Principles of conservation; Conservation strategies; sustainable development.

20. Physico-chemical properties of water; Kinds of aquatic habitats (fresh water and marine); Distribution of and impact of environmental factors on the aquatic biota; Productivity, mineral cycles and biodegradation in different aquatic ecosystems; Fish and Fisheries of India with respect to the management of estuarine, coastal water systems and man-made reservoirs; Biology and ecology of reservoirs.

21. Structure, classification, genetics, reproduction and physiology of bacteria and viruses (of bacteria, plants and animals); Mycoplasma, protozoa and yeast (a general accounts).

22. Microbial fermentation; Antibiotics, organic acids and vitamins; Microbes in decomposition and recycling processes; Symbiotic and asymbiotic N2-fixation; Microbiology of water, air, soil and sewage: Microbes as pathological agents in plants, animals and man; General design and applications of a biofermenter, Biofertilizer.

23. Antigen; structure and functions of different classes of Igs; primary and secondary immune response; lymphocytes and accessory cell; humoral and cell mediated immunity; MHC; mechanism of immune response and generation of immunological diversity; genetic control of immune response; effector mechanisms; applications of immunological techniques.

24. Enzyme Kinetics (negative and positive cooperativity); Regulation of enzymatic activity; Active sites; Coenzymes: Activators and inhibitors, isoenzymes, allosteric enzymes; Ribozyme and abzyme.

25. Van der Waal's, electrostatic, hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interaction; Primary structure and proteins and nucleic acids; Conformation of proteins and polypeptides (secondary, Tertiary, quaternary and domain structure);Reverse turns and Ramachandran plot; Structural polymorphism of DNA, RNA and three dimensional structure of tRNA; Structure of carbohydrates, polysaccharides, glycoproteins and peptido-qlycans: Helix coil transition; Energy terms in biopolymer conformational calculation.

26. Glycolysis and TCA cycle; Glycogen breakdown and synthesis; Gluconeogenesis; Interconversion of hexoses and pentoses; Amino acid metabolism; Coordinated control of metabolism; Biosynthesis of purines and pyrimidines;Oxidation of lipids; Biosynthesis of fatty acids; Triglycerides; Phospholipids; Sterols.

27. Energy metabolism (concept of free energy); Thermodynamic principles in biology; Energy rich bonds; Weak interactions; Coupled reactions and oxidative phosphorylations; Group transfer; Biological energy transducers;Bioenergietics.

28. Fine structure of gene, Eukaryotic genome organization (structure of chromatin, coding and non-coding sequences, and satellite DNA); DNA damage and repair, DNA replication, amplification and rearrangements.

29. Organization of transcriptional units; Mechanism of transcription of prokaryotes and eukaryotes; RNA processing (capping, polyadenylation, splicing, introns and exons); Ribonucleoproteins, structure of mRNA; Genetic code

and protein synthesis.

30. Regulation of gene expression in pro and eukaryotes; Attenuation and antitermination; Operon concept; DNA methylation; Heterochromatization; Transposition; Regulatory sequences and transacting factors; Environmental

regulation of gene expression.

31. Biochemistry and molecular biology of cancer Oncogenes; Chemical carcinogenesis; Genetic and metabolic disorder; Hormonal imbalance ;Drug metabolism and detoxification ;Genetic load and genetic counseling

32. Lysogeny and lytic cycle in bacteriophages; Bacterial transformation; Host cell restriction; Transduction; Complementation; Molecular recombination; DNA ligases;Topoisomerases;Gyrases;Methylases;Nucleases;Restrictionendonucleases; Plasmids and bacteriophage base vectors for cDNA and genomic libraries.

33. Principles and methods of genetic engineering and Gene targeting; Applications in agriculture, health and industry.

34. Cell and tissue culture in plants and animals; Primary culture; Cell line; Cell clones; Callus cultures; Somaclonal variation; Micropropagation; Somatic embryogenesis; Haploidy; Protoplast fusion and somatic hybridization; Cybrids; Gene transfer\methods in plants and in animals; Transgenic biology; Allopheny; Artificial seeds; Hybridoma technology.

35. Structure and organization of membranes; Glycoconjugates and proteins in membrane systems; Ion transport,Na+/K+ATPase;Molecular basis of signal transduction in bacteria, plants and animals; Model membranes;Liposomes.

36. Principles and application of light phase contrast, fluorescence, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, Cytophotometry and flow cytometry, fixation and staining.

37 .Principles and applications of gel-filtration, ion-exchange and affinity chromatography; Thin layer and gas Chromatography; High pressure liquid (HPLC) chromatography; Electrophoresis and electrofocussing; Ultracentrifugation (velocity and buoyant density).

38. Principles and techniques of nucleic acid hybridization and Cot curves; Sequencing of Proteins and nucleic acids; Southern, Northern and South-Western blotting techniques; Polymerase chain reaction; Methods for measuring nucleic acid and protein interactions.

39. Principles of biophysical methods used for analysis of biopolymer structure, X-ray diffraction, fluorescence,UV, ORD/CD, Visible, NMR and ESR spectroscopy; Hydrodynamic methods; Atomic absorption and plasma emission spectroscopy.

40. Principles and applications of tracer techniques in biology; Radiation dosimetry; Radioactive isotopes and half life of isotopes; Effect of radiation on biological system; Autoradiography; Cerenkov radiation; Liquid scintillation

Spectrometry.

41. Principles and practice of statistical methods in biological research, samples and populations; Basic statistics average, statistics of dispersion, coefficient of variation; Standard error; Confidence limits; Probability distributions(biomial, Poisson and normal; Tests of statistical significance; Simple correlation of regression; Analysis of variance.