What is the Topic-Wise Syllabus of JNUCEEB (GAT-B)?

JNUCEEB (GAT B) Syllabus:

JNUCEEB was conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA) to the applicants for admission in Postgraduate Biotechnology courses in some colleges along with JNU. It is now replaced with the Graduate Aptitude Test of Biotechnology (GAT-B). 

As the exam pattern suggests, the exam will be conducted in two parts: Part A and Part B to be attempted in the maximum duration of 3 hours. There will be 120 MCQs asked in the exam.

Part A will comprise questions from 10+2 standard from Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology subjects. Your analysis capacity from the graduation level will be checked in Part B, there will be a choice from 100 questions out of which 60 will be attempted.

The complete syllabus for Part B of JNUCEEB (GAT-B) is mentioned here:

• Biomolecules (structure and functions): Biological membranes: structure, action potential and transport processes; Basic concepts and designs of metabolism (carbohydrates, lipids, amino acids and nucleic acids) photosynthesis, respiration and electron transport chain; Bioenergetics; Enzymes: classification, kinetics and mechanism of action.

• Viruses (structure and classification): Microbial classification and diversity(bacterial, algal and fungal); Methods in microbiology; Microbial growth and nutrition; Aerobic and anaerobic respiration; Nitrogen fixation; Microbial diseases and host-pathogen interaction.

• Prokaryotic & eukaryotic cell structure: Cell cycle and cell growth control, Cell-Cell communication, Cell signaling and signal transduction.

• Molecular structure of genes and chromosomes: Mutations and mutagenesis: Nucleic acid replication, transcription, translation and their regulatory mechanisms in prokaryotes and eukaryotes; Gene interaction; Mendelian inheritance; Complementation: chromosome mapping, Linkage, recombination; Extra chromosomal inheritance; Microbial genetics (plasmids, transformation, transduction, conjugation); Horizontal gene transfer and Transposable elements; RNA interference; DNA damage and repair; Chromosomal variation; Molecular basis of genetic diseases.

• Principles of microscopy: light, electron, fluorescent and confocal; Centrifugation- high speed and ultra; Principles of chromatography- ion exchange, gel filtration, hydrophobic interaction, affinity, GC, HPLC, FPLC; Electrophoresis; Microarray; Principles of spectroscopy-UV, Raman, MS, NMR, visible, CD, IR, FTIR.

• History of Immunology: Antigen-antibody reaction; Complement; Primary and secondary lymphoid organ; B and T cells and macrophages; Major histocompatibility complex (MHC); Antigen processing and presentation; Polyclonal and monoclonal antibody; Regulation of immune response; Immune tolerance; Hypersensitivity; Autoimmunity; Graft versus host reaction; Innate, humoral and cell-mediated immunity; Antigen; Antibody structure and function; Molecular basis of antibody diversity; Synthesis of antibody and secretion;.

• Major bioinformatics resources and search tools: Data mining and analytical tools for genomic and proteomic studies; Molecular dynamics and simulations (basic concepts including force fields, protein-protein, protein-nucleic acid, protein-ligand interaction); Sequence and structure databases; Sequence analysis (biomolecular sequence file formats, scoring matrices, sequence alignment, phylogeny).

• Restriction & modification of enzymes: Vectors: bacteriophage and other viral vectors, plasmid, Ti plasmid, yeast artificial chromosome, cosmids; mammalian and plant expression vectors; Southern and northern blotting; In- situ hybridization; RAPD, RFLP; Site-directed mutagenesis; Gene transfer technologies; Gene therapy; cDNA and genomic DNA library; Gene isolation, cloning and expression ; Transposons and gene targeting; DNA labeling; DNA sequencing; Polymerase chain reactions; DNA fingerprinting.

• Totipotency: Tissue culture and Cell suspension culture system: methodology, kinetics of growth and, nutrient optimization; Production of secondary metabolites by plant suspension cultures; Hairy root culture; transgenic plants; Plant products of industrial importance; Regeneration of plants; Plant growth regulators and elicitors.

• Animal cell culture: Kinetics of cell growth; Micro & macro-carrier culture; Hybridoma technology; Stem cell technology; Animal cloning; Transgenic animals; Media composition and growth conditions; Animal cell and tissue preservation; Anchorage and non-anchorage dependent cell culture.

• Chemical engineering principles applied to a biological system:
Kinetics of microbial growth, product formation, substrate utilization; Sterilization of air and media; Batch, fed-batch and continuous processes; Various types of microbial and enzyme reactors; Instrumentation control and optimization; Unit operations in solid-liquid separation and liquid-liquid extraction; Process scale-up, economics and feasibility analysis; Principle of reactor design, ideal and non- ideal multiphase bioreactors, mass and heat transfer; Rheology of fermentation fluids, Aeration and agitation; Media formulation and optimization.

• Engineering principle of bioprocessing: Production of biomass & primary /secondary metabolites, industrial enzymes, antibiotics, Biofuels, Bioplastics; Large scale production and purification of recombinant proteins; Industrial application of chromatographic and membrane based bio-separation methods; Immobilization of biocatalysts (enzymes and cells) for bioconversion processes; Bioremediation-Aerobic and anaerobic processes for stabilization of solid / liquid wastes; Upstream production and downstream; development from lab to industrial scale, Bioprocess design; Microbial, animal and plant cell culture platforms.

• Tissue culture and its application: Anther and microspore culture; Embryo and ovary culture; Protoplast isolation; Protoplast fusion-somatic hybrids, cybrids; Somaclones; Synthetic seeds; In vitro germplasm conservation; Cryopreservation; Achievements and recent developments of genetic engineering in agriculture; Development of transgenics for biotic & abiotic stress tolerance, bioethics, terminator technology, nanotechnology, DNA fingerprinting, gene silencing; Organelle DNA, Satellite-and repetitive DNAs; DNA repair; Regulation of gene expression; Recombinant DNA technology-cloning vectors, restriction enzymes, gene cloning; Methods of gene transfer in plants; Meristem culture, production of virus-free plants, Micropropagation.