GATE 2024 Syllabus for Life Sciences

XL - P Chemistry (Compulsory for all XL candidates)

Section 1: Atomic Structure and Periodicity
Planck’s quantum theory, wave particle duality, uncertainty principle, comparison between
Bohr’s model and quantum mechanical model of hydrogen atom, electronic configuration of
atoms and ions. Hund’s rule and Pauli’s exclusion principle.
Periodic table and periodic properties: ionization energy, electron affinity, electronegativity and
atomic size.

Section 2: Structure and Bonding
Ionic and covalent bonding, MO and VB approaches for diatomic molecules, VSEPR theory
and shape of molecules, hybridization, resonance, dipole moment, structure parameters such
as bond length, bond angle and bond energy, hydrogen bonding and van der Waals
interactions. Ionic solids, ionic radii and lattice energy (Born‐Haber cycle). HSAB principle.

Section 3: s, p and d Block Elements
Oxides, halides and hydrides of alkali, alkaline earth metals, B, Al, Si, N, P, and S. General
characteristics of 3d elements. Coordination complexes: valence bond and crystal field theory,
color, geometry, magnetic properties and isomerism.

Section 4: Chemical Equilibria
Osmotic pressure, elevation of boiling point and depression of freezing point, ionic equilibria
in solution, solubility product, common ion effect, hydrolysis of salts, pH, buffer and their
applications. Equilibrium constants (Kc, Kp and Kx) for homogeneous reactions.

Section 5: Electrochemistry
Conductance, Kohlrausch law, cell potentials, EMF, Nernst equation, thermodynamic aspects
and their applications.

Section 6: Reaction Kinetics
Rate constant, order of reaction, molecularity, activation energy, zero, first and second order
kinetics, catalysis and elementary enzyme reactions. Reversible and irreversible inhibition of
enzymes.

Section 7: Thermodynamics
Qualitative treatment of state and path functions, First law, reversible and irreversible
processes, internal energy, enthalpy, Kirchoff equation, heat of reaction, Hess’s law, heat of
formation. Second law, entropy and free energy. Gibbs‐Helmholtz equation, free energy
change and spontaneity, Free energy changes from equilibrium constant.

Section 8: Structure-Reactivity Correlations and Organic Reaction Mechanisms
Acids and bases, electronic and steric effects, Stereochemistry, optical and geometrical
isomerism, tautomerism, conformers and concept of aromaticity. Elementary treatment of
SN1, SN2, E1, E2 and radical reactions, Hoffmann/Saytzeff rules, addition reactions,
Markownikoff rule and Kharasch effect. Elementary hydroboration reactions. Grignard’s
reagents and their uses. Aromatic electrophilic substitutions, orientation effect as exemplified
by various functional groups. Identification of common functional groups by chemical tests.

Section 9: Chemistry of Biomolecules
Amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids and nucleotides. Peptide sequencing by chemical and
enzymatic proteolytic methods. DNA sequencing by chemical and enzymatic methods.
Carbohydrates (upto hexoses only). Lipids (triglycerides only). Principles of biomolecule
purification-Ion exchange and gel filtration chromatography. Identification of these
biomolecules and Beer-Lambert’s law.

XL - Q Biochemistry

Section 1:
Organization of life; Importance of water; Structure and function of biomolecules: Amino acids,
Carbohydrates, Lipids, Proteins and Nucleic acids; Protein structure, folding / misfolding and
function; Myoglobin, Hemoglobin, Lysozyme, Ribonuclease A, Carboxypeptidase and
Chymotrypsin.

Section 2:
Enzyme kinetics, regulation and inhibition; Vitamins and Coenzymes; Bioenergetics and
metabolism; Generation and utilization of ATP; Metabolic pathways and their regulation:
glycolysis, TCA cycle, pentose phosphate pathway, oxidative phosphorylation,
gluconeogenesis, glycogen and fatty acid metabolism; Metabolism of Nitrogen containing
compounds: nitrogen fixation, amino acids and nucleotides. Photosynthesis, Calvin cycle.

Section 3:
Biochemical separation techniques: ion exchange, size exclusion and affinity chromatography,
centrifugation; Characterization of biomolecules by electrophoresis; DNA- protein and protein
– protein interactions; UV-visible and fluorescence spectroscopy; Mass spectrometry.

Section 4:
Cell structure and organelles; Biological membranes; Action potential; Transport across
membranes; Membrane assembly and Protein targeting; Signal transduction; Receptor-ligand
interaction; Hormones and neurotransmitters.

Section 5:
DNA replication, transcription and translation; DNA damage and repair; Biochemical
regulation of gene expression; Recombinant DNA technology and applications: PCR, site
directed mutagenesis, DNA-microarray; Next generation sequencing; Gene silencing and
editing.

Section 6:
Immune system: Innate and adaptive; Cell of the immune system; Active and passive
immunity; Complement system; Antibody structure, function and diversity; B cell and T Cell
receptors; B cell and T cell activation; Major histocompatibilty complex; Immunological
techniques: Immuno diffusion, immune-electrophoresis, RIA and ELISA, flow cytometry;
monoclonal antibodies and their applications.

XL - R Botany

Section 1: Plant Systematics
Botanical nomenclature, history of plant taxonomy, diversity and classification of plants, APG
system of plant classification; phylogenetics and cladistics, molecular taxonomy and DNA
barcoding; Centers for plant taxonomy and herbaria in India.

Section 2: Plant Anatomy
Anatomy of root, stem and leaves, floral organs, embryo and young seedlings, Primary and
secondary meristems, stellar organization, vascular system and their ontogeny, xylem and
phloem structure, secondary growth in plants and wood anatomy, plant cell structure and
differences from animal cells.

Section 3: Plant development; cell and tissue morphogenesis
Life cycle of an angiosperm, development of male and female gametophyte; cell fate
determination and tissue patterning; spacing mechanisms in trichomes and stomata.
Embryogenesis, organization and function of shoot and root apical meristems. Transition to
flowering: photoperiodism and vernalization, ABC model of floral organ patterning, pollen
germination, double fertilization, seed development; Xylem and phloem cell differentiation,
photomorphogenesis; phytochrome, cryptochrome, phototropin. Role of auxin, cytokinin,
gibberellins, and brassinosteroids on plant development.

Section 4: Plant physiology and biochemistry
Plant water relations, mechanisms of uptake and transport of water, ions, solutes from soil to
plants, apoplastic and symplastic transport mechanisms. Mechanism of stomatal movements,
nitrogen metabolism, photosynthesis; C3, C4 and CAM cycles, photorespiration, respiration:
glycolysis, TCA cycle and electron transport chain. Plant responses and mechanisms of
abiotic stresses including drought, salinity, freezing and heat stress, metal toxicity; role of
abscisic acid in abiotic stresses. Structure and function of biomolecules (proteins,
carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acid), enzyme kinetics. Structure and biosynthesis of major plant
secondary metabolites (alkaloids, terpenes, phenylpropanoids, flavonoids). Biosynthesis,
mechanism of action and physiological effects of auxin, cytokinin, gibberellic acids,
brassinosteroid, ethylene, strigolactone, abscisic acid, salicylic and jasmonic acid.
Senescence and programmed cell death.

Section 5: Genetics and genomics
Cell cycle and cell division. Principles of Mendelian inheritance, linkage, recombination,
genetic mapping; extra chromosomal inheritance; Introduction to epigenetics; gene silencing-
transgene silencing, post transcriptional gene silencing, miRNA and siRNA; evolution and
organization of eukaryotic genome structure, gene expression, gene mutation and repair,
chromosomal aberrations (numerical: euploidy and aneuploidy and structural: deletion,
duplication, inversion, translocation), transposons. Model organisms for functional genetics
and genomics; Introduction to transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics.

Section 6: Plant Breeding, Genetic Modification, Genome Editing
Principles, methods – selection, hybridization, heterosis; male sterility, genetic maps and
molecular markers, embryo rescue, haploid and doubled haploids, plant tissue culture:
micropropagation, embryo culture and in vitro regeneration, somatic embryogenesis, artificial
seed, cryopreservation, somaclonal variation, somatic cell hybridization, marker-assisted
selection, gene transfer methods viz. direct and vector-mediated, generation of transgenic
plants; Introduction to genome editing: CRISPR/Cas9, Cre-Lox system to generate chimeras;
plastid transformation; chemical mutagenesis.

Section 7: Economic and applied Botany
A general account of economically and medicinally important plants- cereals, pulses, plants
yielding fibers, timber, sugar, beverages, oils, rubber, pigments, dyes, gums, drugs and
narcotics. Economic importance of algae, fungi, lichen and bacteria. Major Indian cash crops.
Effect of industrialization on agricultural botany such as plastic on fiber economy. Genetically
modified crops and its regulation eg. Bt cotton, Btbrinjal golden rice etc.

Section 8: Plant Pathology
Nature and classification of plant diseases, diseases of important crops caused by fungi,
bacteria, nematodes and viruses, and their control measures (chemical and biological)
mechanism(s) of pathogenesis, resistance: basal, systemic, induced systemic resistance,
gene for gene concept. Molecular detection of pathogens; plant-microbe interactions:
symbionts and mycorrhiza, pathogens and pests. Signaling pathways in plant defence
response; salicylic acid (SA) and jasmonic acid (JA) in plant-pathogen and plant-herbivore
interaction, necrosis; host-parasitic plant interaction (such as Cuscuta).

Section 9: Ecology and Environment
Ecosystems – types, dynamics, degradation, biogeochemical cycles, ecological succession;
food webs and energy flow through ecosystem; vegetation types of the world, Indian
vegetation types and biogeographical zones, climate and flora endemism; pollution and global
climate change, speciation and extinction, biodiversity and conservation strategies, ecological
hotspots, afforestation, habitat restoration; plant interactions with other organisms; epiphytes,
parasites and endophytes.

XL - S Microbiology

Section 1: Historical Perspective
Discovery of microbial world; Landmark discoveries relevant to the field of microbiology;
Controversy over spontaneous generation; Role of microorganisms in transformation of
organic matter and in the causation of diseases.

Section 2: Methods in Microbiology
Pure culture techniques; Principles of microbial nutrition; Enrichment culture techniques for
isolation of microorganisms; antigen and antibody detection methods for microbial diagnosis;
Light-, phase contrast-, fluorescence- and electron-microscopy; PCR, real-time PCR for
quantitation of microbes; Next generation sequencing technologies in microbiology.

Section 3: Microbial Taxonomy and Diversity
Bacteria, Archea and their broad classification; Eukaryotic microbes: Yeasts, molds and
protozoa; Viruses and their classification; Molecular approaches to microbial taxonomy and
phylogeny.

Section 4: Prokaryotic Cells: Structure and Function
Prokaryotic Cells: cell walls, cell membranes and their biosynthesis, mechanisms of solute
transport across membranes, Flagella and Pili, Capsules, Cell inclusions like endospores and
gas vesicles; Bacterial locomotion, including positive and negative chemotaxis.

Section 5: Microbial Growth
Definition of growth; Growth curve; Mathematical expression of exponential growth phase;
Measurement of growth and growth yields; Synchronous growth; Continuous culture; Effect of
environmental factors on growth; Bacterial biofilm and biofouling.

Section 6: Control of Micro-organisms
Disinfection and sterilization: principles, methods and assessment of efficacy.

Section 7: Microbial Metabolism
Energetics: redox reactions and electron carriers; Electron transport and oxidative
phosphorylation; An overview of metabolism; Glycolysis; Pentose-phosphate pathway;
Entner-Doudoroff pathway; Glyoxalate pathway; The citric acid cycle; Fermentation; Aerobic
and anaerobic respiration; Chemolithotrophy; Photosynthesis; Calvin cycle; Biosynthetic
pathway for fatty acids synthesis; Common regulatory mechanisms in synthesis of amino
acids; Regulation of major metabolic pathways.

Section 8: Microbial Diseases and Host Pathogen Interaction
Normal microbiota; Classification of infectious diseases; Reservoirs of infection; Nosocomial
infection; Opportunistic infections; Emerging infectious diseases; Mechanism of microbial
pathogenicity; Nonspecific defense of host; Antigens and antibodies; Humoral and cell
mediated immunity; Vaccines; passive immunization; Immune deficiency; Human diseases
caused by viruses, bacteria, and pathogenic fungi.

Section 9: Chemotherapy/Antibiotics
General characteristics of antimicrobial drugs; Antibiotics: Classification molecular mechanism
of mode of action and resistance; Antifungal and antiviral drugs.

Section 10: Microbial Genetics
Types of mutation; UV and chemical mutagens; Selection of mutants; Ames test for
mutagenesis; Bacterial genetic system: transformation, conjugation, transduction,
recombination, plasmids, transposons; DNA repair; Regulation of gene expression: repression
and induction; Operon model; Bacterial genome with special reference to E.coli; Phage λ and
its life cycle; RNA ; mutation in virus genomes, virus recombination and reassortment; Basic
concept of microbial genomics.

Section 11: Microbial Ecology
Microbial interactions; Carbon, sulphur and nitrogen cycles; Soil microorganisms associated
with vascular plants; Bioremediation; Uncultivable microorganisms; basic concept of
metagenomics and metatranscriptomics.

XL - T Zoology

Section 1: Animal Diversity
Distribution, systematics and classification of animals, phylogenetic relationships (based on
classical and molecular phylogenetic tools).

Section 2: Evolution
Origin and history of life on earth, theories of evolution, natural selection, adaptation,
speciation.

Section 3: Genetics
Basic Principles of inheritance, molecular basis of heredity, sex determination and sex-linked
characteristics, cytoplasmic inheritance, linkage, recombination and mapping of genes in
eukaryotes, population genetics, genetic disorders, roles of model organisms in understanding
genetic principles.

Section 4: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Nucleic acids, proteins, lipids and carbohydrates; replication, transcription and translation,
Krebs
cycle, glycolysis, enzyme catalysis, hormones and their actions, roles of vitamins and
minerals.

Section 5: Cell Biology
Basic principles of cellular microscopy, structure of cell, cytoskeletal organization, cellular
organelles and their structure and function, cell cycle, cell division, chromosomes and
chromatin structure.

Section 6: Gene expression in Eukaryotes
Eukaryotic genome organization and regulation of gene expression, transposable elements.

Section 7: Animal Anatomy and Physiology
Comparative physiology, the respiratory system, Muscular system, circulatory system,
digestive system, the nervous system, the excretory system, the endocrine system, the
reproductive system, the skeletal system.

Section 8: Parasitology and Immunology
Nature of parasite, host-parasite relation, protozoan and helminthic parasites, the immune
response, cellular and humoral immune response.

Section 9: Development Biology
Gametogenesis, Embryonic development, cellular differentiation, organogenesis,
metamorphosis, Model organisms used in developmental biology, genetic and molecular basis
of development, stem cells.

Section 10: Ecology
The ecosystem, Animal distribution, ecological niche and its contribution to ecological
diversity, the food chain, population dynamics, species diversity, zoogeography,
biogeochemical cycles, conservation biology, ecotoxicology.

Section 11: Animal Behaviour
Type of behaviours, courtship, mating and territoriality, instinct, learning and memory, social
behaviour across the animal taxa, communication, pheromones, evolution of behavior in
animals.

XL - U Food Technology

Section 1: Food Chemistry and Nutrition

Carbohydrates: structure and functional properties of mono-, oligo-, & poly- saccharides
including starch, cellulose, pectic substances and dietary fibre, gelatinization and
retrogradation of starch. Proteins: classification and structure of proteins in food, biochemical
changes in post mortem and tenderization of muscles. Lipids: classification and structure of
lipids, rancidity, polymerization and polymorphism. Pigments: carotenoids, chlorophylls,
anthocyanins, tannins and myoglobin. Food flavours: terpenes, esters, aldehydes, ketones
and quinines. Enzymes: specificity, simple and inhibition kinetics, coenzymes, enzymatic and
non- enzymatic browning. Nutrition: balanced diet, essential amino acids and essential fatty
acids, protein efficiency ratio, water soluble and fat soluble vitamins, role of minerals in
nutrition, co-factors, anti-nutrients, nutraceuticals, nutrient deficiency diseases. Chemical and
biochemical changes: changes occur in foods during different processing.

Section 2: Food Microbiology

Characteristics of microorganisms: morphology of bacteria, yeast, mold and actinomycetes,
spores and vegetative cells, gram-staining. Microbial growth: growth and death kinetics, serial
dilution technique. Food spoilage: spoilage microorganisms in different food products
including milk, fish, meat, egg, cereals and their products. Toxins from microbes: pathogens
and non-pathogens including Staphylococcus, Salmonella, Shebelle, Escherichia, Bacillus,
Clostridium, and Aspergillums genera. Fermented foods and beverages: curd, yoghurt,
cheese, pickles, soya-sauce, sauerkraut, idly, dose, vinegar, alcoholic beverages and
sausage.

Section 3: Food Products Technology

Processing principles: thermal processing, chilling, freezing, dehydration, addition of
preservatives and food additives, irradiation, fermentation, hurdle technology, intermediate
moisture foods. Food pack aging and storage: packaging materials, aseptic packaging,
controlled and modified atmosphere storage. Cereal processing and products: milling of rice,
wheat, and maize, parboiling of paddy, bread, biscuits, extruded products and ready to eat
breakfast cereals. Oil processing: expelling, solvent extraction, refining and hydrogenation.
Fruits and vegetables processing: extraction, clarification, concentration and packaging of fruit
juice, jam, jelly, marmalade, squash, candies, tomato sauce, ketchup, and puree, potato chips,
pickles. Plantation crops processing and products: tea, coffee, cocoa, spice, extraction of
essential oils and oleoresins from spices. Milk and milk products processing: pasteurization
and sterilization, cream, butter, ghee, ice- cream, cheese and milk powder. Processing of
animal products: drying, canning, and freezing of fish and meat; production of egg powder.
Waste utilization: pectin from fruit astes, uses of by-products from rice milling. Food standards
and quality maintenance: FPO, PFA, A-Mark, ISI, HACCP, food plant sanitation and cleaning
in place (CIP).

Section 4: Food Engineering

Mass and energy balance: Momentum transfer: Flow rate and pressure drop relationships for
Newtonian fluids flowing through pipe, Reynolds number. Heat transfer: heat transfer by
conduction, convection, radiation, heat exchangers. Mass transfer: molecular diffusion and
Flick's law, conduction and convective mass transfer, permeability through single and
multilayer films. Mechanical operations: size reduction of solids, high pressure
homogenization, filtration, centrifugation, settling, sieving, mixing & agitation of liquid. Thermal
operations: thermal sterilization, evaporation of liquid foods, hot air drying of solids, spray and
freeze-drying, freezing and crystallization. Mass transfer operations: psychometric,
humidification and dehumidification operations.