GATE XL-R Botany Syllabus



Course Syllabus

Unit 1: Plant Systematics

  • Major systems of classification
  • Plant groups
  • Phylogenetic relationships
  • Molecular systematics

Unit 2: Plant Anatomy

  • Plant cell structure and its components −
    • Cell wall and membranes
    • Organization
    • Organelles
    • Cytoskeleton
    • Anatomy of root
    • Stem and leaves
    • Floral parts
    • Embryo and young seedlings
    • Meristems
    • Vascular system
    • Their ontogeny
    • Structure and functions
    • Secondary growth in plants and stellar organization

Unit 3: Morphogenesis & Development

  • Cell cycle: cell division
  • Life cycle of an angiosperm
    • Pollination
    • Fertilization
    • Embryogenesis
    • Seed formation
    • Seed storage proteins
    • Seed dormancy and germination
  • Concept of cellular totipotency −
    • Clonal propagation
    • Organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis
    • Artificial seed
    • Somaclonal variation
    • Secondary metabolism in plant cell culture
    • Embryo culture
    • In vitro fertilization

Unit 4: Physiology and Biochemistry

  • Plant water relations −

    • Transport of minerals and solutes

    • Stress physiology

    • Stomatal physiology

    • Signal transduction

    • N2 metabolism

  • Photosynthesis, photorespiration; respiration

  • Flowering −

    • Photoperiodism and vernalization

    • Biochemical mechanisms involved in flowering

  • Molecular mechanism of senescence and aging −

    • Biosynthesis

    • Mechanism of action and physiological effects of plant growth regulators

    • Structure and function of biomolecules, (proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acid)

    • Enzyme kinetics

Unit 5: Genetics

  • Principles of Mendelian inheritance −
    • Linkage
    • Recombination
    • Genetic mapping
  • Extrachromosomal inheritance −
    • Prokaryotic and eukaryotic genome organization
    • Regulation of gene expression
    • Gene mutation and repair
    • Chromosomal aberrations (numerical and structural)
    • Transposons

Unit 6: Plant Breeding and Genetic Modification

  • Principles, methods – selection, hybridization, heterosis, male sterility, genetic maps and molecular markers

  • Sporophytic and gametophytic self-incompatibility

  • Haploidy

  • Triploidy

  • Somatic cell hybridization

  • Marker-assisted selection

  • Gene transfer methods viz.

    • Direct and vector-mediated

    • Plastid transformation

    • Transgenic plants and their application in agriculture, molecular pharming, plantibodies

Unit 7: Economic Botany

  • A general account of economically and medicinally important plants −
    • Cereals
    • Pulses
    • Plants yielding fibers
    • Timber
    • Sugar
    • Beverages
    • Oils
    • Rubber
    • Pigments
    • Dyes
    • Gums
    • Drugs
    • Narcotics
  • Economic importance of −
    • Algae
    • Fungi
    • Lichen
    • Bacteria

Unit 8: Plant Pathology

  • Nature and classification of plant diseases −

    • Diseases of important crops caused by fungi, bacteria, nematodes and viruses, and their control measures, mechanism(s) of pathogenesis and resistance, molecular detection of pathogens

  • Plant-microbe beneficial interactions

Unit 9: Ecology and Environment

  • Ecosystems −
    • Types
    • Dynamics
    • Degradation
    • Ecological succession
  • Food chains and energy flow
  • Vegetation types of the world
  • Pollution and global warming
  • Speciation and extinction
  • Conservation strategies
  • Cryopreservation
  • Phytoremediation

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