Volume-IV

Book Summary

Keeping in view the ever growing importance of Research in Life sciences, this book has been prepared to help JRF-NET aspirants. Life sciences is a vast field that includes fields of botany, zoology, biochemistry, biotechnology, bioinformatics, microbiology, pharmacy, medicine and other fields related to biosciences. The syllabus prescribed by CSIR-UGC for Life Sciences is too vast and there is a dearth of a complete quality book for the same in the market. A sincere and nascent attempt has been made in this direction to fulfill the gap and enable the JRF-NET aspirants to achieve their target of clearing the prestigious CSIR-UGC exam.

Further this book will also cater to the need of students preparing for other competitive exams such as ICAR, ICMR, GATE, TIFR, DBT, IISc, JNU, DU, BHU, Indian civil services, Indian Forest services, Provincial Civil Services etc. Although the book is designed keeping in mind the CSIR- UGC syllabus for Life Sciences, however the undergraduate and post graduate students of various universities across the country will also findthis book useful.
The book is simple and has been designed as per the latest syllabus. For the ease of understanding the entire book is organized in 13 chapters within IV volumes. This book, the volume IV of the series concentrates on the 11th, 12th and 13th unit of the syllabus. An honest effort has been made to cover and provide updated information in all the sections and sub sections under each unit so as to enrich the knowledge and understanding of the students in related topics. The matter in this volume will well equip the student to face any kind of question with greater confidence in part B as well as part C of the question paper.

EVOLUTION AND BEHAVIOUR (UNIT-11)

Topics covered                                                                             

1. A. Emergence of evolutionary thoughts : Lamarck; Darwin–concepts of variation, adaptation, struggle, fitness and natural selection; Mendelism; Spontaneity of mutations; The evolutionary synthesis.
2. B. Origin of cells and unicellular evolution : Origin of basic biological molecules; Abiotic synthesis of organic monomers and polymers; Concept of Oparin and Haldane; Experiment of Miller (1953); The first cell; Evolution of prokaryotes; Origin of eukaryotic cells; Evolution of unicellular eukaryotes; Anaerobic metabolism, photosynthesis and aerobic metabolism
3. C. Paleontology and Evolutionary History : The evolutionary time scale; Eras, periods and epoch; Major events in the evolutionary time scale; Origins of unicellular and multi cellular organisms; Major groups of plants and animals; Stages in primate evolution including Homo.
4. D. Molecular Evolution : Concepts of neutral evolution, molecular divergence and molecular clocks; Molecular tools in phylogeny, classification and identification; Protein and nucleotide sequence analysis; origin of new genes and proteins; Gene duplication and divergence.
5. E. The Mechanisms : Population genetics – Populations, Gene pool, Gene frequency; Hardy-Weinberg Law; concepts and rate of change in gene frequency through natural selection, migration and random genetic drift; Adaptive radiation; Isolating mechanisms; Speciation; Allopatricity and Sympatricity; Convergent evolution; Sexual selection; Co-evolution.
6. F. Brain, Behavior and Evolution : Approaches and methods in study of behavior; Proximate and ultimate causation; Altruism and evolution-Group selection, Kin selection, Reciprocal altruism; Neural basis of learning, memory, cognition, sleep and arousal; Biological clocks.

APPLIED BIOLOGY (UNIT-12)

Topics covered                                                                             

1. A. Microbial fermentation and production of small and macro molecules.
2. B. Application of immunological principles, vaccines, diagnostics. Tissue and cell culture methods for plants and animals.
3. C. Transgenic animals and plants, molecular approaches to diagnosis and strain identification.
4. D. Genomics and its application to health and agriculture, including gene therapy.
5. E. Bioresource and uses of biodiversity.
6. F. Breeding in plants and animals, including marker – assisted selection
7. G. Bioremediation and phytoremediation
8. H. Biosensors

METHODS IN BIOLOGY (UNIT-13)

Topics covered

1. A. Molecular Biology and Recombinant DNA methods : Isolation and purification of RNA, 209 – 265 DNA (genomic and plasmid) and proteins, different separation method;. Analysis of RNA, DNA and proteins by one and two dimensional gel electrophoresis, Isoelectric focusing gels; Molecular cloning of DNA or RNA fragments in bacterial and eukaryotic systems. Expression of recombinant proteins using bacterial, animal and plant vectors; Isolation of specific nucleic acid sequences. Generation of genomic and cDNA libraries in plasmid, phage, cosmid, BAC and YAC vectors; In – vitro mutagenesis and deletion techniques, gene knock out in bacterial and eukaryotic organisms. Protein sequencing methods, detection of post translation modification of proteins; DNA sequencing methods, strategies for genome sequencing. Methods for analysis of gene expression at RNA and protein level, large scale expression, such as micro array based techniques; Isolation, separation and analysis of carbohydrate and lipid molecules; RFLP, RAPD and AFLP techniques
2. B. Histochemical and Immunotechniques : Antibody generation, Detection of molecules 266 – 286 using ELISA, RIA, western blot, immunoprecipitation, fluocytometry and immunofluorescence microscopy, detection of molecules in living cells, in situ localization by techniques such as FISH and GISH.
3. C. Biophysical Method : Molecular analysis using UV/visible, fluorescence, circular 287 – 308 dichroism, NMR and ESR spectroscopy Molecular structure determination using X-ray diffraction and NMR; Molecular analysis using light scattering, different types of mass spectrometry and surface plasma resonance methods.
4. D. Statistical Methods : Measures of central tendency and dispersal; probability 309 – 372 distributions (Binomial, Poisson and normal); Sampling distribution; Difference between parametric and non-parametric statistics; Confidence Interval; Errors; Levels of significance; Regression and Correlation; t-test; Analysis of variance; X2 test;; Basic introduction to Multivariate statistics, etc.
5. E. Radiolabeling techniques : Detection and measurement of different types of 373 – 380 radioisotopes normally used in biology; incorporation of radioisotopes in biological tissues and cells, molecular imaging of radioactive material, safety guidelines.
6. F. Microscopic techniques : Visualization of cells and subcellular components by light 381 – 393 microscopy, resolving powers of different microscopes, microscopy of living cells, scanning and transmission microscopes, different fixation and staining techniques for EM, freezeetch and freeze- fracture methods for EM, image processing methods in microscopy.
7. G. Electrophysiological methods : Single neuron recording, patch-clamp recording, 394 – 414 ECG, Brain activity recording, lesion and stimulation of brain, pharmacological testing, PET, MRI, fMRI, CAT.
8. H. Methods in field biology : Methods of estimating population density of animals and 415 – 421 plants, ranging patterns through direct, indirect and remote observations, sampling methods in the study of behavior, habitat characterization: ground and remote sensing methods.
9. I. Computational methods : Nucleic acid and protein sequence databases; data mining 422 – 433 methods for sequence analysis, web- based tools for sequence searches, motif analysis and presentation.