GATE Biotechnology Syllabus 2023

GATE Biotechnology Syllabus 2023 

Candidates who have opted for Biotechnology as their subject in the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) 2022 exam should refer to the detailed syllabus given below. The syllabus is divided into 7 sections with various topics under each section. 

Section 1: Engineering Mathematics 

Linear Algebra: 

• Systems of linear equations
• Matrices and determinants 
• Eigen Values and Eigen Vectors

Calculus: 

• Partial derivatives, maxima and minima
• Limits, continuity and differentiability
• Test for convergence 
• Sequences and series

Differential Equations: 

• Laplace Transforms
• Linear And Nonlinear First Order ODEs, Higher Order ODEs With Constant Coefficients
• Cauchy’s And Euler’s Equations

Probability And Statistics: 

• Poisson, Normal And Binomial Distributions
• Mean, Median, Mode And Standard Deviation
• Correlation And Regression Analysis 
• Random Variables

Numerical Methods:

• Single Step Method For Differential Equations
• Solution Of Linear And Nonlinear Algebraic Equations 
• Integration By Trapezoidal And Simpson’s Rule

Section 2: General Biology 

Biochemistry: 

• Enzyme Inhibition – Competitive, Non-Competitive And Uncompetitive Inhibition
• Basic Concepts And Regulation Of Metabolism Of Carbohydrates, Lipids, Amino Acids And Nucleic Acids
• Enzyme Kinetics – Michaelis-Menten Equation
• Photosynthesis, Respiration And Electron Transport Chain 
• Enzymes – Classification, Catalytic And Regulatory Strategies 
• Biomolecules – Structure And Function
• Biological Membranes – Structure, Membrane Channels And Pumps, Molecular Motors, Action Potential And Transport Processes

Microbiology: 

• Viruses – Structure And Classification
• Microbial Growth And Nutrition
• Microbial Interactions
• Methods In Microbiology 
• Bacterial Classification And Diversity
• Nitrogen Fixation 
• Microbial Diseases and Host-Pathogen Interactions
• Microbial Ecology – Microbes In Marine, Freshwater And Terrestrial Ecosystems
• Antibiotics And Antimicrobial Resistance

Immunology: 

• Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC)
• Graft Versus Host Reaction
• Antibody Structure And Function
• Molecular Basis Of Antibody Diversity
• Immune Tolerance 
• Antigen-Antibody Reaction 
• Hypersensitivity
• Primary And Secondary Lymphoid Organs 
• Innate And Adaptive Immunity, Humoral And Cell Mediated Immunity
• Immunization And Vaccines
• Polyclonal And Monoclonal Antibody 
• Regulation Of Immune Response 
• Complement
• Antigen Processing And Presentation
• Autoimmunity 
• T Cell And B Cell Development

Section 3: Genetics, Cellular And Molecular Biology

Genetics and Evolutionary Biology:

• Chromosomal Variation
• Gene Interaction
• Complementation
• Linkage, Recombination And Chromosome Mapping
• Adaptive And Neutral Evolution
• Selection And Inheritance 
• Horizontal Gene Transfer And Transposable Elements 
• Extra Chromosomal Inheritance
• Genetic Disorders 
• Epigenetics
• Population Genetics
• Microbial Genetics – Transformation, Transduction And Conjugation
• Genetic Drift
• Mendelian Inheritance 
• Species And Speciation

Cell Biology:

• Cell Signaling And Signal Transduction
• Cell-Cell Communication 
• Prokaryotic And Eukaryotic Cell Structure 
• Cell Death And Autophagy
• Protein Trafficking 
• Cell Cycle And Cell Growth Control
• Extra-Cellular Matrix
• Post-Translational Modifications

Molecular Biology: 

• RNA Interference
• Mutations And Mutagenesis
• Molecular Structure Of Genes And Chromosomes
• Nucleic Acid – Replication, Transcription, Splicing, Translation And Their Regulatory Mechanisms
• Non-Coding and Micro RNA 
• Regulation Of Gene Expression
• DNA Damage And Repair

Section 4: Fundamentals Of Biological Engineering 

Engineering Principles Applied To Biological Systems: 

• Stoichiometry of growth and product formation
• Recycle, bypass and purge processes 
• Material and energy balances for reactive and non-reactive systems 
• Degree of reduction, electron balance, theoretical oxygen demand

Classical Thermodynamics and Bioenergetics: 

• Ligand Binding
• Laws Of Thermodynamics 
• Energetics Of Metabolic Pathways, Oxidation and Reduction Reactions
• Phase Equilibria, Reaction Equilibria 
• Solution Thermodynamics
• Membrane Potential 

Transport Processes:

• Newtonian and Non-Newtonian Fluids, Fluid Flow – Laminar And Turbulent
• Molecular Diffusion And Film Theory 
• Heat Exchangers
• Conductive And Convective Heat Transfer, LMTD, Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient 
• Oxygen Transfer And Uptake In Bioreactor, Kla And Its Measurement
• Mixing In Bioreactors, Mixing Time

Section 5: Bioprocess Engineering and Process Biotechnology 

Bioreaction Engineering: 

• Enzyme Immobilization, Diffusion Effects – Thiele Modulus, Effectiveness Factor, Damkoehler Number
• Optimization And Scale Up
• Ideal Reactors – Batch, Mixed Flow And Plug Flow 
• Batch, Fed-Batch And Continuous Processes
• Kinetics Of Cell Growth, Substrate Utilization And Product Formation
• Structured And Unstructured Models
• Rate Law, Zero And First Order Kinetics
• Microbial And Enzyme Reactors

Upstream And Downstream Processing: 

• Media Formulation And Optimization 
• Cell Disruption
• Centrifugation – High Speed And Ultra 
• Principles Of Chromatography – Ion Exchange, Gel Filtration, Hydrophobic Interaction, Affinity, GC, HPLC And FPLC
• Filtration – Membrane Filtration, Ultrafiltration
• Extraction, Adsorption And Drying
• Sterilization Of Air And Media

Instrumentation And Process Control:

• Types Of Controllers – Proportional, Derivative And Integral Control, Tuning Of Controllers
• Pressure, Temperature And Flow Measurement Devices
• Feedback And Feed Forward Control 
• First Order And Second Order Systems 
• Valves

Section 6: Plant, Animal And Microbial Biotechnology 

Plants:

• Plant Growth Regulators And Elicitors
• Totipotency 
• Regeneration Of Plants 
• Transgenic Plants – Direct And Indirect Methods Of Gene Transfer Techniques
•  Selection Marker And Reporter Gene
• Plastid Transformation 
• Production Of Secondary Metabolites 
• Somaclonal Variation
• Plant Products Of Industrial Importance 
• Artificial Seeds 
• Tissue Culture And Cell Suspension Culture System – Methodology, Kinetics Of Growth And Nutrient Optimization
• Protoplast, Protoplast Fusion – Somatic Hybrid And Cybrid
• Hairy Root Culture

Animals: 

• Animal Cell And Tissue Preservation
• Culture Media Composition And Growth Conditions
• Knockout And Knock-In Animals
• Anchorage And Non-Anchorage Dependent Cell Culture
• Kinetics Of Cell Growth
• Transgenic Animals
• Micro & Macro-Carrier Culture
• Stem Cell Technology
• Hybridoma Technology
• Animal Cloning

Microbes: 

• Large Scale Production And Purification Of Recombinant Proteins And Metabolites 
• Clinical-, Food- And Industrial- Microbiology
• Production Of Biomass And Primary/Secondary Metabolites – Biofuels, Bioplastics, Industrial Enzymes, Antibiotics
• Screening Strategies For New Products

Section 7: Recombinant DNA Technology And Other Tools In Biotechnology 

Recombinant DNA Technology:

• Vectors – Plasmids, Bacteriophage And Other Viral Vectors, Cosmids, Ti Plasmid, Bacterial And Yeast Artificial Chromosomes
• Transposons And Gene Targeting
• cDNA And Genomic DNA Library 
• Gene Isolation And Cloning, Strategies For Production Of Recombinant Proteins 
• Restriction And Modification Enzymes
• Expression Vectors

Molecular Tools: 

• Southern And Northern Blotting
• Polymerase Chain Reaction 
• DNA/RNA Labelling And Sequencing
• Biosensing And Biosensors 
• Site-Directed Mutagenesis
• In-Situ Hybridization
• DNA Fingerprinting, RAPD, RFLP 
• CRISPR-Cas
• Gene Transfer Technologies

Analytical Tools: 

• Principles Of Microscopy – Light, Electron, Fluorescent And Confocal
• Immunoassays – ELISA, RIA, Immunohistochemistry
• Principles Of Spectroscopy – UV, Visible, CD, IR, Fluorescence, FT-IR, MS, NMR
• Enzymatic Assays 
• Electrophoresis
• Micro-Arrays 
• Whole Genome And ChIP Sequencing
• Flow Cytometry
• Immunoblotting

Computational Tools:

• Knowledge Discovery In Biochemical Databases
• Sequence And Structure Databases 
• Functional Annotation
• Genomics, Proteomics, Metabolomics 
• Metabolic Engineering And Systems Biology
• Bioinformatics Resources And Search Tools
• Gene Prediction
• Secondary Structure And 3d Structure Prediction
• Sequence Analysis – Sequence File Formats, Scoring Matrices, Alignment, Phylogeny
• Metagenomics