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Next I moved onto studying molecular biology. And it will be hard for you to believe that I revised this topic also from Genetics – a conceptual approach by Benjamin Pierce. All the articles on NET syllabus will tell you to refer to books such as i.) Molecular Biology by Robert Weaver, ii.) Genes by Lewin and iii.) Concepts of Genetics, Klug and Cummings. But Pierce was sufficient for me. However, I would recommend that if you’re weak in this section and find it tough then you must put some time to strengthen this topic by studying the books mentioned above. They are generally studied at masters level. But they are time consuming and lengthy. It is not possible for anyone to read the entire molecular biology syllabus right from your first semester B.Sc. to last semester M.Sc. in 3 months. So my advice on this is study well in college.
This portion of the syllabus could take you about 7 -14 days. So plan well! Chalk out the number of hours you think you should devote to each chapter. This is an important topic. You just cannot avoid questions from this topic as the bulk of the paper comprises it.
Here are the chapters you need to study –
- DNA replication (Meeselson and Stahl experiment – very very very important, Griffith experiment on pneumoniae)
- Prokaryotic transcription (types of RNA, structure, cellular quantities, mechanism)
- Prokaryotic Translation (you should know the last base on 3’ end of tRNA – 5’ CCA 3’, in which direction the peptide chain elongates – N to C terminus and which end of the amino acid binds to the tRNA – C terminus)
- Eukaryotic transcription, post-transcriptional processing of mRNA (mRNA maturation, RNA splicing and editing), translation (Very vast and boring, so you could skip it if thorough with other chapters) and post-translational modification
- Regulation of gene expression in prokaryotes (lac and trp operon, lysogeny to lytic conversion in phages, solve sums on merodiploids)
- Regulation of gene expression in eukaryotes or Epigenetics (histone modification, DNA methylation, chromatin remodelling, activators and repressors, enhancers, silencers, insulators, RNAi mechanism)
- rDNA technology and gene cloning – very important (study the types of electrophoresis, PCR methods, DNA sequencing methods, restriction enzymes and sites, adaptors and linkers, what are genomic and cDNA libraries, industrial applications)
- Bacterial replication
- Recombination (Practise sums on recombination frequency)
- Conjugation, Transformation and Transduction
- Plasmids (Trun and Trempy)
- Mutations (also study inherited human disease due to mutations, Russell iGenetics Molecular Approach 3rd edition)
- DNA repair mechanisms (NHEJ – important)
- Transposition
- Mitochondria and Chloroplasts (you can read this chapter from Russell iGenetics Molecular Approach 3rd edition)
- Viral genetics (solve sums on deletion mapping. Questions are likely but easy)
- Cancer genetics
- Molecular tools for genetics (Best book – Concepts of Genetics by Klug and Cummings 10th edition)
- Principle of PCR and the various kinds of PCR – their principle and uses
- Bioinformatics
If you have time you may also read the topic from Trueman’s UGC-CSIR textbook for life sciences. Anything left out will be covered. Reading these two topics will take you about 3 days. So your entire molecular biology gets done in 2 weeks. That’s a good go!!
After this, I started with cell biology. Again this will take 10 to 14 days but you will be thorough with in this time frame. The only book I would recommend is Molecular Biology of THE CELL by Alberts – 4th edition. Here are the chapters you must study under this topic:
- Visualizing Cells (You should know the different types of microscopy, principles and their applications)
- Membrane structure of the cell
- Membrane transport and Electrical properties of membranes
- Intracellular compartments and protein sorting (transport of molecules into and out of nucleus – important)
- Intracellular vesicular traffic
- Mitochondria and chloroplast (respiration, ETC, photosynthesis)
- Cell signalling pathways
- Cytoskeleton
- Cell Cycle
- Apoptosis
- Mechanics of cell division
- Cell Junctions, Cell Adhesion and ECM
- Germ Cells and Fertilization (SRY gene)
I found cell biology interesting to read. It tells you so much about the cells in your body, the majestic functions they perform, how they coordinate to form a human body. It is marvelous! Again I made my personal notes jotting down some vital keywords and some key information. Solve the questions from previous year question papers of CSIR-NET on Molecular and Cell Biology to assess your preparation in this section. This will definitely help you.
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