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SUBJECT : BOTANY
SYLLABUS

Unit I Algae:
General account of algology. Contributions of Indian Phycologists:
(M.O. Parthasarathy, V. Desikachary, V. Krishnamurthy and V.S. Sundaralingam).
Classification of algae by F.E. Fritsch (1935-45). Algae of diverse habitats,
Range of thallus organization in algae. Reproduction (vegetative, asexual and
sexual) and life cycle patterns of algae. Cyanobacteria (blue green algae).
Economic importance of algae.

Fungi:
General Characteristics, Contributions of Indian Mycologists (C.V.Subramanian).
Classification of Fungi by Alexopoulos and Mims (1979). Heterothallism and
para-sexuality in fungi. Sex hormones in fungi. Reproduction in fungi (asexual
and sexual). Spore dispersal mechanism in fungi. Mycorrhizae. Fossil fungi,
Economic importance of fungi.Mushroom cultivation.

Lichens:
Classification of lichens based on Morphology, habitat, internal structure and
fungal partner. Interrelationship of phycobionts and mycobionts.Structure and
reproduction in Ascolichens, Basiodiolichens and Deuterolichens. Lichens as
indicators of pollution. Economic importance of lichens.

Bryophytes:
General feature, Classification of Bryophytes (Proskauer, 1957). Distribution,
Morphology, Anatomy, Reproduction and Life cycle of Marchantiales,
Jungermanniales, Anthocerotales and Polytrichales. Spore dispersal mechanisms
and germination pattern. Evolutionary trends in Sporophytes and gametophytes
of bryophytes. Fossil bryophytes. Economic importance of bryophytes.

Unit II Pteridophytes:
Classification of Pteridophytes (Reimer, 1954). Stelar evolution. Telome theory.
Sorus – Origin, types and sporangial development. Heterospory and seed
habit – Alternation of generations. Apogamy, Apospory and parthenogenesis
in Pteridophytes. Comparative morphology, anatomy, reproduction and
evolutionary studies of the following groups: Psilopsida, Lycopsida, Sphenopsida
and Pteropsida. Economic importance of Pteridophytes.
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Gymnosperms:
General character, classification of gymnosperms (Sporne, 1974). Origin and
Evolution of gymnosperms. Comparative study of vegetative, anatomical and
reproductive characteristics of Cycadales, Ginkgoales, Coniferales, Gnetales.
Economic importance of gymnosperms.

Paleobotany:
Concept of Paleobotany: Geological time scale. Contributions of Birbal Sahni,
Technique for paleobotanical studies. Fossilization process, Types of fossils,
the fossil records: systematic reconstruction and nomenclature of fossil plants,
Determination of Age of Fossils, Fossil Pteridophytes: Rhynia, Sphenophyllum,
Lepidocarpon, Botryopteris. Fossil Gymnosperms: Williamsonia and Cordaites.

Unit III Morphology:

The plant body. Root: Structure and functions. Root modification. Stem: aerial
and underground stem modifications. Leaf: Types, phyllotaxy, venations and
leaf modifications. Inflorescence: Types. Flower: Floral whorls, sex, symmerty,
Aestivation, Fusion. Ovary position, placentation. Fruits: Types. Seeds: Parts of
seeds, Types, seed dispersal.

Taxonomy and Systematics:

Objectives of plant systematics, Concepts of Taxonomic hierarchy. Species
concepts. Botanical nomenclature: principle, Rules and Recommendation of ICN.
Systems of classification: Linnaeus, Bentham and Hooker, Engler and Prantl,
Takhtajan, Angiosperm phylogeny Groups (APG systems). Modern Trends
in Plant Taxonomy – DNA Bar coding and Molecular Systematics – Cladistic
Methodology – Taxonomic keys, Botanical Gardens, BSI, Herbarium techniques
and Application. Virtual/digital Herbarium. Systematic Position, salient features
and economic importance of the following families: Nymphaeaceae, Magnoliaceae,
Aristolochiaceae, Arecaceae, Orchidaceae, Commelinaceae, Zingiberaceae,
Cyperaceae, Menispermaceae, Combretaceae, Lythraceae, Moraceae, Rosaceae,
Meliaceae, Sapindaceae, Nyctaginaceae, Portulacaceae, Boraginaceae, Fabaceae,
Rubiaceae, Bignoniaceae, Pedaliaceae and Convolvulaceae.
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Economic Botany:
General account on utilization of selected crop plants: (i) Cereals and millets
(ii) Pulses (iii) Vegetables, Fruits and Nuts (iv) Cosmetics plants (v) Oil seeds
(vi) Sugar yielding plants, (vii) Spices and condiments, (viii) Fibre yielding
Plants (ix) Timber yielding plants (x) Resins, gums and latex (xi) Essential oils
(xii) Beverages, (xiii) Dyes, (xiv) Plants used as avenue trees for shade, pollution
control and aesthetics and (xv) Energy plantation – uses of Casuarina.

Medicinal Botany:
Traditional medicinal systems in India. Importance of ethnobotany in Indian
context. Active principles, biochemical properties and medicinal uses of
Phyllanthus amarus, Justicia adhatoda, Andrographis paniculata, Curcuma
longa, Cannabis sativa, Glorisa superba, Cymbopogon citratus, Catharanthus
roseus and Rauwolfia serpentina.

Unit IV Anatomy:
Classification of tissues. Theories of organization of shoot, root and floral
meristems. Root and shoot transition. Cambium – Vascular cambium and cork
cambium – origin, development and types. Anomalous thickening in dicot and
monocot stems. Xylem: components, structure. Secondary elements, hard wood,
soft wood, growth ring, heart wood and sap wood, Tyloses, Reaction wood and
Tension wood. Patterns of secondary wall thickening. Phloem – components
and structures. Tissue system: Types and characteristics – Secondary elements,
Secretory cells and tissues: Structure, classification and significance. Nodal
anatomy. Leaf: Epidermal tissue, development of stomata, Stomatal types, leaf
anatomy: monocots and dicots. Plant galls: types, structure and development.
Experimental anatomy – PGR and tissue differentiation.

Embryology:
Microsporangium – Microsporogenesis, Microspores: morphology,
ultrastructure, Microgametogenesis. Pollen wall development, Pollen – Stigma
– Incompatibility. Methods to overcome incompatibility. Megasporangium.
Megagametogenesis: Female gametophyte, Monosporic, Bisporic and
Tetrasporic, Nutrition of embryo sac and fertilization. Pollination: Types and
pollination agents – Fertilization and post fertilization events: Endosperm:
Types. Endosperm haustoria. Cytology and physiology of endosperms. functions
of endosperms. Embryo development in Dicot and Monocot. Polyembryony –
Causes. Apomixis, Apospory and parthenocarpy – Their role in plant improvement
program. Seed development.
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Microtechniques:
Microscopy – Principle and applications, Light microscope: Bright field, Dark
field, Phase contrast microscopy, Fluorescence Microscope, Electron microscope
(TEM & SEM). Microtome: Types, Principles and operating mechanisms.
Maceration, Squashes, Smears, Whole mount and clearing techniques. Fixation
and fixatives, dehydration, clearing, infiltration, Embedding, Block making and
sectioning. Stains and staining techniques.

Unit V Cell Biology:

Cell structure, organization of prokaryotic and Eukaryotic cells. Cell theory,
ultrastructure and molecular organization of cell wall, Plasma membrane, cytoplasm,
protoplasm, Endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi bodies, plastids, mitochondria,
chloroplast, lysosomes, Ribosome, vacuoles, Nucleus. Cell division and cell
cycle: Mitosis and meiosis, their regulation, steps in cell cycle and control of cell
cycle. Organization of nuclear genome: DNA as genetic material – prokaryotic and
eukaryotic DNA – chromatin – chromosomes – Gene –Transposon. Replication of
DNA and types.
Molecular Biology:
Transcription in prokaryotes and eukaryotes (RNA synthesis – enzymology –
signaling) – mechanics of initiation, elongation, termination – post–transcriptional
modifications and RNA splicing – regulation of gene expression (lac and trp operons)
– RNA interference (TGS and PTGS) – Translation (genetic code – redundancy
and elucidation of base composition – tRNA charging – initiation, elongation and
termination) – post translational modifications. Molecular Chaperones – Heat
shock proteins. Bioinformatics: Concepts, scope and applications.

Unit VI Genetics and Biostatistics:

Mendelian genetics – Mendel‘s Law of inheritance, non mendelian inheritance,
Gene interactions – complementary genes, Lethal genes, Epistasis, Quantitative
inheritance. Chromosomal basis of inheritance. Gene Linkage and crossing over-
Kinds of linkage, types of crossing over mechanism. Sex determination in plants,
theories of sex determination. Sex linked characters. Multiple alleles and pseudo
alleles. Cytoplasmic inheritance, organelle heredity with reference to chloroplast
and mitochondrial mutants –male sterility in plants. Population Genetics – Gene
pool, Gene Frequencies, Mutation, Selection, Migration, genetic drift, Hardy –
Weinberg law. Mutation: Types of Mutation. Mutagenic agents and their mode
of action.
Biostatistics: principle, scope and application in biological sciences. Standard
deviation and coefficient of variation (CV). Test of significance: Z test, t-test
and chi square test. probablity and distributuion. Correlation and regression.
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Plant Breeding:
Domestication and introduction of plants. Origin of cultivated Plants. Vavilov’s
center of origin. Organic Agriculture. Conventional Plant Breeding systems:
introduction, Selection – Types of selection, selection in self and cross pollinated
crops. Hybridization-Hybridization techniques, male sterility, self-incompatibility,
heterosis and hybrid vigor. Role of polyploidy in crop improvement. Green revolution,
Applications of tissue culture and molecular techniques in plant breeding.

Unit VII Plant Physiology:

Solute transport: Properties of water, Diffusion, Osmosis and water potential,
mechanism of water absorption. Translocation of water and solutes through
membranes, Mechanisms of loading and unloading of photo-assimilates.
Transpiration and stomatal movements. Mineral nutrition: Role of Macro and
Micro nutrients. Deficiency symptoms.

Photosynthesis:
Light harvesting complexes; photosynthetic pigments, mechanisms of electron
transport; photo protective mechanisms; CO2 fixation – C3, C4 and CAM
pathways – Factors affecting photosynthesis.

Respiration:
Types of respiration, Glycolysis, Citric acid cycle; electron transport system and
ATP synthesis; photorespiration and its significance.

Nitrogen metabolism and Secondary metabolites:

Nitrogen cycle and metabolism, Biological Nitrogen fixation. Secondary
metabolites: Biosynthesis of terpenes, flavonoids, phenols and alkaloids and
their physiological roles.

Plant Growth Regulators:

Physiological role and mechanisms of action of auxins, gibberellins, cytokinins,
Ethylene and abscisic acid. Photobiology and photo morphogenesis: Phytochromes-
history and discovery, occurrence and distribution; Cryptochromes – photochemical
and biochemical properties. Vernalization. Circadian rhythm in plants. Plant
Movements – nastic and tropic movements. Seed dormancy: causes and methods to
break seed dormancy. Physiology of seed germination. Abscission and Senescence.

Stress physiology:
Causes, mechanisms, effects of plant responses and adaptation to biotic and
abiotic stresses.
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Biochemistry:
Chemical bonds and their interactions. Water – structure, pH concept – buffer,
Molarity, Molality and Normality. Carbohydrates: Structures and classification.
Lipids: Structure, classification and properties. Biosynthesis and biological
significance of major lipids. Amino acids – classification, properties of Amino
acids. Amino acid metabolism, Proteins: classification, structure (primary,
secondary, tertiary and quaternary), properties of protein. Enzymes – general
feature, naming and classification – Factors affecting enzyme activities. Enzyme
inhibition, Mechanism of enzyme action. Nucleic acids: Structure of nitrogenous
bases; Structure and function of nucleotides; Types of nucleic acids.

Unit VIII Ecology:

History and scope of ecology, Autecology: Characteristics of a population;
population growth curves; population regulation; life history strategies (R and
K selection); concept of metapopulation – demes and dispersal, interdemic
extinctions, age structured population. Synecology – Characteristics of
community, composition and structure, origin and development, ecotone, edge
effect, ecological niche. Ecological interdependence and interaction – positive
and negative interactions. Competition – inter-specific and intra-specific.
Ecological Succession: Types, mechanisms, concept of climax.

Concept and dynamics of Ecosystem:

Types of Ecosystem, components, Food chain, food webs. Concept of trophic
level, Ecological pyramids, Energy flow ecosystem. Mineral cycling (C, N, P);
primary production and decomposition; structure and function of terrestrial
(forest, grassland) and aquatic (fresh water, marine, estuarine) ecosystems.

Environmental pollution and Management:

Types, causes, effects and control measures of air, soil, water, thermal, noise
and heavy metal pollution; Bioremediation and biodegradation – Bio-mining,
microbes in leaching metals. Biodiversity management; climate change and its
consequences; global environmental change; greenhouse effect, Climate change
conferences.- Kyoto Protocol climate agreement – Carbon trade and carbon
credits. Blue carbon and IPCC. Tools to study global climate change. GIS
application in Biodiversity and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
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Biodiversity conservation:
Need for conservation – in-situ conservation – sanctuaries, national parks,
biosphere reserves; ex-situ conservation – Gene banks, seed banks, Pollen banks
and Cryopreservation. Role of indigenous people in conservation of sacred
species, sacred groves; Human and animal conflicts in Biodiversity conservation,
Red List categories of IUCN. Forest conservation through laws – the biological
diversity Act (2002) in force. National Biodiversity Authority.

Phytogeography:
Principle of plant geography – Phytogeographic regions of India, Dispersal and
migration barrier hypothesis, Willis age and area hypothesis. Continuous range,
cosmopolitan, circumboreal and circum austral, pantropical, Discontinuous
distribution Wegner’s theory continental drift hypothesis, land bridges hypothesis,
Endemism. Biogeographic classification of India, Biodiversity hotspot regions
of India and the World.

Unit IX Microbiology and Plant Pathology:

Bacteria: Classification of bacteria (Bergey’s Manual of Bacteriology, 1994),
structural organization and reproduction of bacteria, Motility, flagella and pili –
Growth and Nutrition, growth curve, kinetics of bacterial growth. Sterilization
techniques, culture media, staining techniques for bacterial identification –
Bacterial genetics: conjugation, transformation and transduction. Application:
fermentor and types of fermentations – industrial products from bacteria,
agricultural applications of bacteria, bacteria in Bioremediation. Structure and
reproduction of Archaebacteria, Cyanobacteria, Mycoplasma and Actinobacteria
(Actinomycetes).

Virology:
General characteristics, Classification of plant viruses (ICTV,1970), structure
and multiplication of plant viruses. Bacteriophage: Structural characteristics and
multiplication. Virion, viroid, virusoids and prions. Isolation and purification of
plant viruses.

Plant Pathology:
Classification of plant diseases, Symptomology. Principles of plant infection:
Inoculum, inoculum potential, Pathogenicity, Disease triangle. Epidemiology and
forecasting of plant diseases – Host parasite inter relationships and interaction.
Pathogenesis: Mechanism of penetration- Disease development of pathogen
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(colonization) and dissemination of pathogens. Environment and nutrition in

relation to disease development – Defence mechanism. Role of enzymes and
toxins in disease development. Diseases and disease cycle – Important diseases
of crop plants in India: Sheath blight of rice, leaf spot of groundnut, Black rust
of wheat, Late blight of potato, Fusarium wilt of cotton, Bacterial blight of rice,
Citrus canker, Bunchy top of Banana, Root knot of Brinjal, Red rust of tea.
Disease Resistance mechanism in plants. Techniques adopted in plant breeding
for disease resistance. Principles of plant disease management – Cultural
practices, physical, chemical and biological methods, disease controlled by
immunization. Plant quarantine and legislation. Integrated Pest Management
System. Plant protection organizations in India.

Unit X Introduction to Plant Tissue Culture:

Basics of plant tissue culture – concepts in plant tissue culture. Plant tissue culture
techniques. Micropropagation, organ culture, mersitem culuture, protoplast
culture and haploid plant production. Callus induction, Cell suspension culture,
somatic embryogenesis, synthetic seed technology. Conservation of Plant
genetic resources. Application of cell culture systems in metabolic engineering.
Concepts and application of nanobiotechnology: Application of nano particles
in Agriculure, environment and medicine. Impact of nano-science and nano-
biotechnology to society.

Genetic Engineering:
Principles of rDNA technology. Molecular tools in Genetic engineering. Cloning
vectors – Plasmids – types, Mechanism of plasmids, Isolation of plasmids.
Cosmids and phage vectors. Construction of Genomic library, polymerase
chain reaction (PCR), Molecular Markers (RAPD, RFLP and AFLP). Blotting
techniques (Southern, Northern and Western blots). Sequencing methods
for DNA. Genetic transformation and development of transgenic plants for
insect, herbicide and viral resistances, Golden rice, Edible vaccines, Bio-
farming, bioremediation and bioprospecting, salt and drought tolerant plants,
enhancement of shelf life of flowers and fruits. Socio-economic and ethical
aspects of biotechnology. Environmental laws; Intellectual property rights;
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) GATT, TRIPS, PBR and
Farmers rights and its role. Ecological impact and biosafety issues of GM crops.