Agrimly: Syllabus for the ICAR SRF-NET Exam in Plant Biotechnology

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

Unit 3: Enzymology

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

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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