M.Sc.Bio-Technology SEMESTER I-

4001 BIOCHEMISTRY AND METABOLIC REGULATION

Unit – I: Introduction and protein structure
Chemical basis of life; Composition of living matter; Water – properties, pH, ionization and hydrophobicity; Emergent properties of biomolecules in water; structure of proteins: protein folding and mis-folding, primary and higher order structures; structure-function relationships in model proteins: ribonuclease A, myoglobin, hemoglobin, chymotrypsin.

Unit – II: Carbohydrates and lipids
Carbohydrates; mono, di, and polysaccharides; suitability in the context of their different functionscellular structure, energy storage, glycosylation of other biomolecules – glycoproteins and glycolipids; Lipids structure and properties of important members of storage and membrane lipids; lipoproteins.

Unit – III: Membranes and Nucleic acids
Biomembrane organization – sidedness and function; Membrane bound proteins – structure, properties and function; membrane transport, nucleic acids – structure, diversity and function.

Unit – IV: Bioenergetics
Bioenergetics-basic principles; Equilibria and concept of free energy; Coupled processes; Glycolytic pathway; Kreb’s cycle; Oxidative phosphorylation; Photosynthesis; Elucidation of metabolic pathways; Logic and integration of central metabolism; entry/ exit of various biomolecules from central pathways; Principles of metabolic regulation.

Unit – V: Secondary metabolism
Terpenes (sesquiterpenes, carotenoids), alkaloids, flavonoids, targeting mevalonic acid pathway/MEP pathway in bacteria, phenolic compounds, shikimic acid pathway, importance of secondary metabolites.

TEXT AND REFERENCES:

  1. Principles of Biochemistry, A.L. Lehninger, D.L. Nelson, M.M. Cox. , Worth Publishing.
  2. Harper’s Biochemistry K. Robert, M.D. Murray, D.K. Granner, P.A. Mayes and V.I. Rodwell, McGraw Hill/ Appleton and Lange.
  3. Biochemistry (Fifth Edition), Lubert Stryer.
  4. V.Voet and J.G.Voet, Biochemistry, 3rd edition, John Wiley, New York, 2004.

4002 MICROBIOLOGY AND MICROBIAL TECHNOLOGY

Unit I: Introduction to microbiology
Microbes and their types, Viruses, Bacteria, fungi and protozoans – Morphology and classification. Abnormal forms of bacteria, archaebacteria, mycoplasma and PPLO, cultivation of bacteria – nutritional requirements of bacteria, physical requirements, different types of media & their preparations. Koch’s postulates, Axenic culture, Isolation of pure cultures, maintenance and preservation of the pure cultures. Culture characteristics, bacterial growth kinetics, enumeration of cells by direct and indirect methods.

Unit II: Control of micro-organisms
Concept of sterilization and disinfection. Physical and chemical methods of microbial control. Chemotherapeutics, susceptibility test (broth procedures and diffusion methods), mode of action of antibiotics, narrow and broad spectrum(Penicillin, ampicillin, sulfonamide, vancomycin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol), antifungals (clotrimazole, fluconazole), antiretroviral (tenofovir, AZT).

Unit III: Microbial genetics
Molecular classification of microbes, The Basics of microbial genetics, prokaryotic gene organization, The basic principles of microbial DNA, replication, transcription and translation. Microbial regulation of gene expression: the trp and lac operon.

Unit IV: Microbial genetic change and viral genetics
Basics of microbial gene transfer: transformation, transduction, conjugation, plasmids, transposons. Viral Genetics Reproductive cycles of bacteriophage, M13 and lambda.

Unit V: Soil and Agricultural Microbiology
Normal microflora of soil, host parasite interactions, allelochemistry and mechanisms of pathogenesis, agricultarally-important pathogenic microorganisms (bacteria, fungi and viruses), applications of the basic principles of microbiology in effective diagnosis, treatment and prevention of infectious disease.

TEXT AND REFERENCES:

  1. Microbiology VI Edition, M.J. Pelczar, E.C.S. Chan and N.R. Kreig, Tata McGraw Hill.
  2. General Microbiology, R.Y. Stanier, J.L. Ingraham, M. L. Wheelis and P.R. Painter, Macmillian.
  3. The microbes – An Introduction to their Nature and Importance, P.V. Vandenmark and B.L. Batzing Benjamin Cummings.
  4. The Microbial World, Roger Y. Stanier, Prentice Hall.
  5. Microbiology, Tortora, Funke and Chase, Benzamin & Cummings.

4003 CELL AND CANCER BIOLOGY

Unit I: Introduction
Cell types (prokaryotes/ eukaryotes), cell organelles, cell wall, cell membrane, cytoplasmic organelles, structure of nuclear envelope, nuclear pore, complex, transport across envelope, regulation of nuclear import.

Unit II: Protein trafficking
Targeting proteins to endoplasmic reticulum, signal recognition particle, signal recognition particle receptor, protein folding and processing in ER, protein export from ER, Protein sorting and export from golgi apparatus; SNARE hypothesis; Protein import into Mitochondria, Import and sorting of chloroplast protein.

Unit III: Cytoskeleton
Structure and organization of cell skeleton; Microfilaments and Microtubule-structure and assembly, actins, myosin muscle contraction, cilia, flagella-structure and function.

Unit IV: Cell signaling
Cell-cell interaction, modes of cell signaling, steroid hormone receptors, peptide hormones and growth factor, plant hormones, G-protein coupled receptors; receptor –protein tyrosine kinase, c- AMP pathway of signal transduction; c GMP, phospholipids and calcium ions, MAP kinase pathway, JAK – STAT pathway, Integrin signaling, Hedgehog and Wnt pathways.

Unit V: Cell division and cancer biology
Cell Cycle: Interphase and M phase (mitosis and meiosis), Cell cycle regulation, checkpoints in cell cycle; regulators of cell cycle, Apoptosis: intrinsic and extrinsic pathways.
Cancer biology: types of cancer; development of cancer, cells; Oncogenes, protooncogenes, function of oncogene products, tumor suppressor genes, function of tumor suppression gene products, role of oncogene and tumor suppressor gene in development, molecular diagnosis of cancer.

TEXT AND REFERENCES

  1. Molecular Cell Biology by Bruce Albert
  2. Molecular Biology by Lodish, Darnell and Baltimore
  3. Molecular Biology of the gene by Watson et al 4th ed.
  4. Cell and molecular biology by Gerald Karp
  5. Cell biology by Pollard and Earnshaw

4004 BIOANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES AND BIOPHYSICS

Unit I : Spectroscopy and X –ray crystallography
Principles of colorimetry and UV-Vis spectrophotometry, Mass spectrometry, MALDI, X-Ray Crystallography, SPR.

Unit II: Electrophoresis and chomatography
Agarose and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (native and denaturing), Immuno-electrophoresis, Isoelectric Focusing, Capillary electrophoresis.
Planner chromatography and column chromatography (ion exchange, gel permeation, affinity), GLC and HPLC.

Unit III: Membrane Biophysics
Genesis of membrane potential in nerve & membrane, Nerst & Goldman equation, electrophysiology Patch Clamp and Voltage –Clamp techniques for measuring membrane potential.

Unit IV: Radiation Biophysics and tracer techniques
Principles of fluorescence, Tracer Technology, Dose response relationship, Radioisotopes in Diagnostics and Biotechnology, Geiger-Mueller Counter, Scintillation Counters. Non-Radioactive tracer Technology Metabolic and physiological tracer techniques, non-radioactive labels (fluorescence and
nonradioisotopes), labeling and detection methods using fluorescent molecules.

Unit V: Blotting techniques:
Southern blotting, northern blotting, western blotting, South western bloting.

TEXT & REFERENCES:

  1. Practical Biochemistry, Principles & Techniques, Keith Wilson and John Walker.
  2. Bioinstrumentation, Webster.
  3. Principles & Practice of Bioanalysis, Richard F. Venn.

4005 LAB COURSE I

Unit I:

  • Demonstration of good laboratory practices.
  • Functioning and calibration of pH meter.
  • Preparation of buffers.
  • Determination of isoelectric point.
  • Estimation of reducing sugars.
  • Estimation of amino acids.
  • Estimation of nucleic acids.
  • Estimation of enzyme activity.

Unit II:

  • Sterilization of media and instruments.
  • Isolation of bacteria from soil and its qualitative characterization.
  • Gram’s staining of bacteria.
  • Bacterial growth curve and its analysis.
  • Bacterial transformation/ conjugation.
  • Antibiotic sensitivity test

Unit III:

  • Microscopic examination of cell division and stages.
  • Qualitative estimation of cell wall properties by histo-chemical staining.
  • Isolation and separation of cell organelles and their assay.

Unit IV:

  • Cell disruption using grinding and homogenizing.
  • Centrifugation for fractionation of homogenate.
  • Spectrophotometric/ colorimetric estimation of proteins.
  • Chromatographic separation of proteins.
  • Visualization of chromatographic separation of protein by PAGE.
  • Fluorescence detection of nucleic acids.