ICAR – ARS/NET - Exam:
Agricultural Biotechnology
Unit 1: Cell Structure and Function
Prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell architecture, Cell wall, plasma membrane, Structure and function of cell organelles: vacuoles, mitochondria, plastids, golgi apparatus, ER, peroxisomes, glyoxisomes. Cell division, regulation of cell cycle, Protein secretion and targeting, Cell division, growth and differentiation.
Unit 2: Biomolecules and
Metabolism
Structure and function ofcarbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids, Synthesis of
carbohydrate, glycolysis,
HMP, Citric acid cycle and metabolic regulation, Oxidative phosphorylation and
substrate level phosphorylation, Vitamins, plant and animal hormones.Functional
molecules, antioxidants, nutrient precursor, HSPs, anti-viral compounds.
Unit 3: Enzymology
Enzymes, structure
conformation, classification, assay, isolation, purification and
characterization, catariysis specificity, mechanism of action, active site,
regulation of enzyme activity, multienzyme complexes, immobilized enzymes and
protein engineering, immobilized enzymes and their application.
Unit 4: Molecular
Genetics
Concept of gene,
Prokaryotes as genetic system, Prokaryotic and eukaryotic chromosomes, methods
of gene isolation and identification, Split genes, overlapping genes and pseudo
genes, Organization of prokaryotic and eukaryotic genes and genomes including
operan, 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, Transcription – mechanism of transcription in
prokaryotes and eukaryotes, transcription unit, regulatory sequences and
enhancers, activators, repressors, co-activators, 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.
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 C-DNA
libraries. Gel electrophoretic techniques. Polymerase chain reacton, spectroscopy, rtPCR ultracentrifugation, chromatography, FISH, RIA etc.
Unit 7: Gene Cloning
Restriction enzymes and
their uses. Salient features and uses of most commonly used vectors
i.e.plasmids, bacteriophages, phagmids, cosmids, BACs, PACs and YACs, binary
vectors,expression vectors. Gene cloning and sub-cloning strategies, chromosome
walking, genetic transformation, Basis of animal cloning. Biology. Risk
assessment and IPR.
Unit 8: Molecular
Biology
Ribosome structure and
function. Protein biosynthesis in prokaryotes and ekaryotes. Posttranslational
modification. Gene regulation, RNA processing and Post transcriptional
modifications.
Bioprospecting, biofortification, gene pryrimiding and gene fusion, ribozyme
technology.
Unit 9: Plant Molecular
Biology
Photoregulation and
phytochrome regulation of nuclear and chloroplastic gene expression.Molecular
mechanism of nitrogen fixation. Molecular biology of various stresses, viz. Abiotic stresses like drought,
salt, heavy metals and temperature; and biotic stresses like bacterial, fungal
and viral diseases. Signal transduction and its molecular basis, molecular
mechanism of plant hormone action mitochondrial control of fertility, structure,
organization and regulation of nuclear gene concerning storage proteins and
starch synthesis.
Unit 10: Tissue Culture
Basic techniques in cell
culture and somatic cell genetics. Regulation of cell cycle and cell
division. Clonal
propagation. Concept of cellular totipotency. Anther culture, 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.
Unit 11: Plant Genetic
Engineering
Isolation of genes of
economic importance. Gene constructs for tissue-specific expression.
Different methods of gene
transfer to plants, viz. direct and vector-mediated.
Molecular analysis of transformants. Potential applications of plant genetic
engineering for crop improvement, i.e.insect-pest resistance (insect, viral,
fungal and bacterial disease resistance), abiotic stressresistance, herbicide resistance,
storage protein quality, increasing shelf-life, oil quality, Current status of
transgenics, biosafty norms and controlled field trials and release of
transgenics (GMOs).
Unit 12: Molecular
Markers and Genomics
DNA molecular markers:
Principles, type and applications; restriction fragment length
polymorphism (RFLP),
amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), randomly amplified polymorphic
DNA sequences (RAPD), Simple sequence repeats (SSR), Single nucleotide
polymorphism (SNP), Structural and functional genomics, gene mapping, genome
mapping, gene tagging and comparative genomics and application of genomics.