ISC Biotechnology Class 12 Syllabus
There is one paper of three hours duration divided into
two parts. Part 1 (20 marks) consists of compulsory short answer questions,
testing knowledge, application and skills relating to elementary/fundamental
aspects of the entire syllabus. Part 2 (50 marks) consists of eight questions
out of which the candidates will be required to answer five questions. Each
question in this part carries 10 marks.
1. Molecular Biology
(a) Biomolecules: Introduction to biomolecules- definition and types.
Carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, vitamins and enzymes – their structure and
properties.
Structure, functions of carbohydrates.
Sugars and derivatives; and classification of some
important mono, di and polysaccharides - Glucose, fructose, glycogen,
cellulose, chitin and peptidoglycon. Physical and chemical properties of
sugars.
Structure, functions and classification of proteins –
building blocks of proteins, the amino acids. Chemical structure, types
(acidic, basic and neutral); physical and chemical properties of amino acids.
Different methods employed in determining the amino acid sequence in proteins:
3D - structure of proteins. Different types of proteins - primary, secondary,
tertiary quarternary.
Vitamins: Definition of fat soluble and water soluble
vitamins; co-enzymes: definition and examples.
Enzymes: Structure and functions of enzymes: chemical
nature of enzymes; characteristics and properties of enzymes. An understanding
of enzyme activity; mechanism of enzyme action - Lock and key model and induced
fit hypothesis; factors affecting enzyme activity.
Structure and functions of lipids – building blocks of
lipids, their structures, types and chemical properties.
Optical activity of biomolecules. Concept of
supramolecular assembly.
(b) Nucleic acids: an understanding of nucleic acids, their importance
in biotechnological work, biochemical structure and capacity to replicate.
DNA – physical and chemical structure; definition, double
helical model of DNA, (Watson and Crick’s); Nucleotide and nucleoside;
Chargaff’s Law method of replication of DNA, various replicative enzymes in
both procaryotic and eucaryotic organisms, example topoisomerases, helicase,
SSBs polymerases, primases, ligases. Concept of semi conservative and
semi-discontinuous replication, leading and lagging strands, okazaki fragments.
RNA – definition, various types of RNAs such as mRNA,
tRNA (Clover leaf model), their structure and functions.
(c) Protein Synthesis: synthesis of different RNAs, and the complete
mechanism of polypeptide chain formation. Different metabolic diseases which
occur due to a change in the DNA structure.
From gene to protein: Transcription - DNA to RNA, various
enzymes involved eg RNA polymerases, amino acyl tRNA synthetase, an explanation
of the complete process; post transcriptional changes- polyadenylation, 5’
capping and splicing.
Genetic code – properties of genetic code, Start and Stop
codons, anticodons. The translation of RNA to protein – complete mechanism of
chain initiation, elongation and termination, the role of tRNA, mRNA and rRNA
in protein synthesis. (Post translational changes not included)
Concept of central dogma. Concept of Reverse
transcription, enzyme reverse transcriptase. An understanding of one gene one
enzyme hypothesis. Fine structure of gene - exon, intron. Gene regulation –
Operon concept – lac operon and trp operon.
Inborn errors of metabolism - basic concept and examples
like Albinism, sickle cell anaemia. Phenyl ketonuria, alkaptonuria.
2. Genetic Engineering
(a) Innovations in
Biotechnology: select examples
of products already available, produced by using modern biotechnological tools.
(i) Plants: Production of Flavr Savor tomatoes; designer
oil, Bt-crops.
(ii) Healthcare: Production of recombinant hepatitis-B
vaccine; insulin and interferon and edible vaccines.
(iii) Animal: Dolly the cloned sheep; stem-cells
research. Characteristics of stem cells and their applications.
(iv) Environmental biotechnology: oil-eating bacteria,
bioremediation.
(v) Industrial biotechnology: production of industrial
enzymes.
(vi) Single Cell Protein concept (SCP) – advantages of
single cell protein.
(b) Introduction to
gene cloning and genetic engineering: concept
of cloning and vectors.
Tools of recombinant DNA technology, types of restriction
endonucleases and other enzymes used in cloning: types of vectors, such as
plasmids, cosmids, phages, YACs, BACs, animal and plant viruses, role of
Shuttle and expression vectors in DNA manipulation, construction of a
recombinant DNA molecule; steps involved in genetic engineering and gene
cloning.
Techniques involved in extraction and purification of DNA
from bacterial and plants cells. A basic understanding of DNA libraries –
construction and cloning of genomic and cDNA libraries.
Transfer of recombinants into host cells - basic concept
of transformation, transfection, electroporation, Liposome, microinjection,
biolistic and Agrobacterium induced gene transfer, T-DNA and Ti-Plasmid.
Methods of identification of recombinants- Direct
selection / Insertional inactivation / Blue-white selection. DNA probes –
definition and use.
(c) Biochemical
techniques: classification of
techniques based on various factors.
Classification of techniques based on various factors.
Molecular weight or size: centrifugation, gel permeation, osmotic pressure.
Polarity or charge: ion exchange chromatography,
electrophoresis, iso-electric focussing, hydrophobic interaction, partition
chromatography, spectroscopy colorimetry, UV visible spectrophotometry,
florescence spectroscopy, crystallography and mass spectrometry.
Solubility: salt precipitation and precipitation with
organic solvent.
(d) Gene analysis
techniques: various techniques
involved in any work in recombinant DNA technology.
Low resolution mapping techniques: gel electrophoresis,
northern blotting, southern blotting.
High resolution techniques: DNA sequencing- sequencing by
chemical degradation, sequencing by chain termination, automated DNA
sequencing. Site directed mutagenesis.
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)– definition, principle
and the technique involved, use of the enzyme taq DNA polymerase, concept of
oligonucleotide primer; significance and applications of PCR.
Human Genome Project - its objectives, the countries
involved, its achievements and significance.
3. Cell Culture Technology
(a) Introduction and
Techniques: basic
understanding of cell culture technology and its significance in biotechnology.
Different materials and methods used in this technology.
Introductory History: definition of cell culture,
different types of tissues and organ cultures.
Media and aseptic manipulation: definition of media;
composition of media – inorganic nutrients, organic nutrients, macronutrients,
micronutrients and other important supplements. Role of auxins, cytokinins in
cell tissue culture. Importance of media in cell culture. Solidifying agents
and pH.
Sterilisation of apparatus and instruments used in cell
culture, culture rooms and transfer area. Basic organization of a tissue
culture laboratory.
Preparation and cloning of cell culture along with
regeneration of single cell to whole plant, basic steps in micropropagation of
plants.
Role of cell and tissue culture in plant genetic
manipulation – genetic variability, invitro pollination, induction of haploidy,
somatic hybridisation and genetic transformation
(b) Cell culture and
cellular totipotency: types of
cell culture and the concept of cellular totipotency.
Cell culture: importance of single cell culture.
Different methods involved in isolation of single cells from plant organs -
mechanical and enzymatic methods.
Concept and types of suspension culture: batch cultures
and continuous cultures. Synchronisation of suspension cultures. Chemical
methods – starvation, inhibition, mitotic arrest and plating techniques.
Cellular totipotency: definition of cellular totipotency.
Concepts like cell differentiation, dedifferentiation and redifferentiation,
vascular differentiation.
(c) Germplasm
conservation: definition and
significance of germplasm conservation and various methods involved in it.
Definition and need for germplasm conservation. Modes of
conservation: in-situ conservation, ex-situ conservation; in-vivo and in-vitro
conservation; Advantages and disadvantages of in-situ and ex-situ conservation.
Materials used for conservation. Principles involved in freeze preservation.
Various types of freeze preservation.
(d) Applications of
cell culture technology: different
fields in which cell culture technology is used and the ways it is used.
Application in crop improvement.
Application of cell culture technology in plant breeding:
haploid production – an understanding of haploid production and in vivo
techniques employed to induce haploid production such as gynogenesis,
androgenesis, genome elimination by distant hybridisation and semigamy, chemical
treatment, temperature shocks and irradiation effects.
Triploid production: understanding and need for triploid
production. Application of triploids in plant improvement. Seedless crops.
In vitro pollination: concept, and application of in
vitro pollination. Zygotic embryo culture concept and applications.
Concept of somatic hybridisation and cybridisation,
protoplast fusion, genetic transformation and their applications in plant
improvement.
The scope biotechnology offers in developing favourable
traits in crops, like pest resistance, drought resistance, salinity resistance.
Production of Biodegradable plastic, synthetic seeds and virus free crops.
4. Bio-informatics
(a) Introduction: an introduction to computers, both hardware and
software aspects. Global biological data bases.
Introduction to computer software and hardware - RAM and
ROM, Microprocessor. Definition, significance and application of
bio-informatics. Enormity of data generated by biological systems; managing the
data using tools provided by Information Technology.
An introduction to global bio-informatics databases
(nucleotide and protein databases). Information sources such as EMBL, NCBI GDB,
MGD. Data retrieval tools- ENTREZ, BLAST, Taxonomy Browser, FASTA.
Genomics: basic understanding of genome, types of genome
–prokaryotic and eukaryotic, criteria for selecting an organism for sequencing.
Various theoretical aspects of searching genes using the computer. Definition
of genomics.
Types of genomics- structural and functional. Basic
criteria in selecting the organism for its genome sequencing. Searching for
genes using computers. All the theoretical aspects – exons, intron, promoter
region, coding regions, non-coding regions, Different types of sequences –
cDNA, genomic DNA, ESTs (Expressed Sequence Tags) and STSs (Sequence Tagged
Sites) and the different softwares used like gene scan.
Types of sequence analysis –global, local, pair wise and
multiple. A mention of different computer software and programs used in
sequence analysis.
(b) Proteomics: definition and introduction.
Different softwares commercially available for structural
prediction of proteins. Softwares available easily on the internet, important
protein databases available for the public on the internet like PDB (Protein
Data Bank), PIR (Protein Identification Resources). Use of computers in new
drug development research - concept of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs).
Biotechnology - global and Indian scenario. Various
institutes, centers and funding agencies - DBT, DST, NBTB, CCMB, which deal
with biotechnology and bioinformatics in India.
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