GATE Syllabus for Botany (XL-J)

Part 1: Plant Systematics

Major systems of classification, phylogenetic relationships & molecular systematic, plant groups

Part 2: Plant Anatomy:

Cell wall and membranes; Plant cell structure and its components; organization, cytoskeleton, organelles, anatomy of root, floral parts, stem and leaves, embryo and young seedlings, vascular system, their ontogeny, meristems,  structure and functions, secondary growth in plants & stellar organization

Part 3: Morphogenesis & Development

Cell cycle, life cycle of an angiosperm, cell division, pollination, embryogenesis, fertilization, seed formation, seed dormancy and germination, seed storage proteins, Concept of cellular totipotency, clonal propagation; artificial seed, organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis, somaclonal variation, embryo culture in vitro fertilization, secondary metabolism in plant cell culture

Part 4: Physiology and Biochemistry

Plant water relations, stress physiology, transport of minerals and solutes, signal transduction, stomatal physiology, N2 metabolism, photorespiration; respiration, photosynthesis, Flowering: photoperiodism & vernalization, biochemical mechanisms involved in flowering; biosynthesis, mechanism of action and physiological effects of plant growth regulators, molecular mechanism of senencensce and aging, structure and function of biomolecules, (proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acid), enzyme kinetics

Part 5: Genetics

Principles of Mendelian inheritance, recombination, linkage, genetic mapping; extrachromosomal inheritance; regulation of gene expression, prokaryotic and eukaryotic genome organization, gene mutation and repair, transposons, chromosomal aberrations (numerical and structural)

Part 6: Plant Breeding and Genetic Modification

Principles, hybridization, methods – selection, heterosis; male sterility, genetic maps and molecular markers, haploidy, sporophytic and gametophytic self incompability,  triploidy, marker-assisted selection, somatic cell hybridization, plastid transformation, gene transfer methods viz. direct and vector-mediated, molecular pharming, transgenic plants and their application in agriculture, plantibodies

Part 7: Economic Botany

A general account of economically and medicinally, important plants- pulses, cereals, plants yielding fibers, sugar, timber, beverages, rubber, oils, pigments, gums, dyes, drugs and narcotics. Economic importance of fungi, algae, lichen and bacteria

Part 8: Plant Pathology

Nature and classification of plant diseases, diseases of important crops caused by bacteria, fungi, nematodes and viruses, and their control measures, molecular detection of pathogens; mechanism(s) of pathogenesis and resistance,  plant-microbe beneficial interactions

Part 9: Ecology and Environment

Ecosystems – types, degradation, dynamics, ecological succession; vegetation types of the world, food chains and energy flow; pollution and global warming, extinction and speciation, conservation strategies, phytoremediation, cryopreservation

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