Civil Service Mains Optional Botany

BOTANY


PAPER – I

1. Microbiology and Plant Pathology:
Structure and reproduction/multiplication
of viruses, viroids, bacteria, fungi and my-coplasma; Applications of microbiology in
agriculture, industry, medicine and in con-trol of soil and water pollution; Prion and
Prion hypothesis.
Important crop diseases caused by viruses,
bacteria, mycoplasma, fungi and nema-todes; Modes of infection and dissemina-tion; Molecular basis of infection and dis-ease resistance/defence; Physiology of
parasitism and control measures; Fungal
toxins; Modelling and disease forecasting;
Plant quarantine.

2. Cryptogams:
Algae, fungi, lichens, bryophytes, pterido-phytes - structure and reproduction from
evolutionary viewpoint; Distribution of
Cryptogams in India and their ecological
and economic importance.

3. Phanerogams:
Gymnosperms: Concept of Progymnos-perms; Classification and distribution of
gymnosperms; Salient features of Cycada-les, Ginkgoales, Coniferales and Gnetales,
their structure and reproduction; General
account of Cycadofilicales, Bennettitales
and Cordaitales; Geological time scale;
Type of fossils and their study techniques.
Angiosperms: Systematics, anatomy, em-bryology, palynology and phylogeny.
Taxonomic hierarchy; International Code
of Botanical Nomenclature; Numerical tax-onomy and chemotaxonomy; Evidence
from anatomy, embryology and palynology.
Origin and evolution of angiosperms; Com-parative account of various systems of clas-sification of angiosperms; Study of
angiospermic families – Mangnoliaceae,
Ranunculaceae, Brassicaceae, Ro-saceae, Fabaceae, Euphorbiaceae,
Malvaceae, Dipterocarpaceae, Apiaceae,
Asclepiadaceae, Verbenaceae, Solan-aceae, Rubiaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Astera-ceae, Poaceae, Arecaceae, Liliaceae,
Musaceae and Orchidaceae.
Stomata and their types; Glandular and
non-glandular trichomes; Unusual second-ary growth; Anatomy of C
3and C

4
plants;
Xylem and phloem differentiation; Wood
anatomy.
Development of male and female gameto-phytes, pollination, fertilization; Endosperm
- its development and function; Patterns of
embryo development; Polyembroyony and
apomixes; Applications of palynology; Ex-perimental embryology including pollen
storage and test-tube fertilization.

4. Plant Resource Development:
Domestication and introduction of plants;
Origin of cultivated plants; Vavilov’s cen-tres of origin; Plants as sources for food,
fodder, fibre, spices, beverages, edible oils,
drugs, narcotics, insecticides, timber, gums,
resins and dyes, latex, cellulose, starch and
its products; Perfumery; Importance of Eth-nobotany in Indian context; Energy planta-tions; Botanical Gardens and Herbaria.

5. Morphogenesis:
Totipotency, polarity, symmetry and
dfferentiation; Cell, tissue, organ and pro-toplast culture; Somatic hybrids and
Cybrids; Micropropagation; Somaclonal
variation and its applications; Pollen hap-loids, embryo rescue methods and their
applications.


PAPER – II

1. Cell Biology:
Techniques of cell biology; Prokaryotic and
eukaryotic cells - structural and ultrastruc-tural details; Structure and function of ex-tracellular matrix (cell wall), membranes-cell adhesion, membrane transport and ve-sicular transport; Structure and function of
cell organelles (chloroplasts, mitochondria,
ER, dictyosomes ribosomes, endosomes,
lysosomes, peroxisomes); Cytoskelaton
and microtubules; Nucleus, nucleolus,
nuclear pore complex; Chromatin and nu-cleosome; Cell signalling and cell recep-tors; Signal transduction; Mitosis and meio-sis; Molecular basis of cell cycle; Numeri-cal and structural variations in chromo-somes and their significance; Chromatin
organization and packaging of genome;
Polytene chromosomes; B-chromosomes
– structure, behaviour and significance.

2. Genetics, Molecular Biology and Evo-lution:
Development of genetics; Gene versus al-lele concepts (Pseudoalleles); Quantitative
genetics and multiple factors; Incomplete
dominance, polygenic inheritance, multiple
alleles; Linkage and crossing over; Meth-ods of gene mapping, including molecular
maps (idea of mapping function); Sex chro-mosomes and sex-linked inheritance, sex
determination and molecular basis of sex
differentiation; Mutations (biochemical and
molecular basis); Cytoplasmic inheritance
and cytoplasmic genes (including genet-ics of male sterility).
Structure and synthesis of nucleic acids
and proteins; Genetic code and regulation
of gene expression; Gene silencing;
Multigene families; Organic evolution – evi-dences, mechanism and theories.
Role of RNA in origin and evolution.

3. Plant Breeding, Biotechnology and
Biostatistics:
Methods of plant breeding – introduction,
selection and hybridization (pedigree,
backcross, mass selection, bulk method);
Mutation, polyploidy, male sterility and het-erosis breeding; Use of apomixes in plant
breeding; DNA sequencing; Genetic engi-neering – methods of transfer of genes;
Transgenic crops and biosafety aspects;
Development and use of molecular mark-ers in plant breeding; Tools and techniques
- probe, southern blotting, DNA fingerprint-ing, PCR and FISH.
Standard deviation and coefficient of varia-tion (CV); Tests of significance (Z-test, t-test and chi-square test); Probability and
distributions (normal, binomial and Pois-son); Correlation and regression.

4. Physiology and Biochemistry:
Water relations, mineral nutrition and ion
transport, mineral deficiencies; Photosyn-thesis – photochemical reactions; photo-phosphorylation and carbon fixation path-ways; C3, C4
and CAM pathways; Mecha-nism of phloem transport; Respiration
(anerobic and aerobic, including fermen-tation) – electron transport chain and oxi-dative phosphorylation; Photorespiration;
Chemiosmotic theory and ATP synthesis;
Lipid metabolism; Nitrogen fixation and
nitrogen metabolism; Enzymes, coen-zymes; Energy transfer and energy con-servation; Importance of secondary me-tabolites; Pigments as photoreceptors
(plastidial pigments and phytochrome);
Plant movements; Photoperiodism and
flowering, vernalization, senescence;
Growth substances – their chemical na-ture, role and applications in agri-horticul-ture; Growth indices, growth movements;
Stress physiology (heat, water, salinity,
metal); Fruit and seed physiology; Dor-mancy, storage and germination of seed;
Fruit ripening – its molecular basis and
manipulation.

5. Ecology and Plant Geography:
Concept of ecosystem; Ecological factors;
Concepts and dynamics of community;
Plant succession; Concept of biosphere;
Ecosystems; Conservation; Pollution and
its control (including phytoremediation);
Plant indicators; Environment (Protection)
Act.
Forest types of India - Ecological and eco-nomic importance of forests, afforestation,
deforestation and social forestry; Endan-gered plants, endemism, IUCN categories,
Red Data Books; Biodiversity and its con-servation; Protected Area Network; Con-vention on Biological Diversity; Farmers’
Rights and Intellectual Property Rights;
Concept of Sustainable Development; Bio-geochemical cycles; Global warming and
climatic change; Invasive species; Envi-ronmental Impact Assessment; Phytogeo-graphical regions of India.