SARDAR PATEL UNIVERSITY

VALLABH VIDYANAGAR

Programme: MSC (CBCS)

Syllabus with effective from: JUNE
JUNE-2017
MICROBIOLOGY

M. Sc. Microbiology
Semester I II III IV
Core I Molecular Biology Bioprocess and Microbial R-DNA
DNA Technology
(4 Credits) (PS01CMIC21) Biochemical Biotechnology (PS04CMIC21)
CMIC21)
Engineering (PS03CMIC21)
(PS02CMIC21)
Core II Bioinstrumentation Microbial Genetics Environmental Environmental
(4 Credits) (PS01CMIC22) (PS02CMIC22) Microbiology Biotechnology
(PS03CMIC22) (PS04CMIC22)
CMIC22)
Core III Cell Biology Fundamentals of Enzymology Lab I (PS0
(PS04CMIC23)
(4 Credits) (PS01CMIC23) Immunology (PS03CMIC23) Practicals based on
(PS02CMIC23) PS04CMIC21
CMIC21 and
PS04CMIC22
CMIC22
Core IV Lab I (PS01CMIC24) Lab I (PS02CMIC24) Lab I (PS03CMIC24)
(4 Credits) Practicals based on Practicals based on Practicals based on
PS01CMIC21 and PS02CMIC21 and PS03CMIC21 and
PS01CMIC22 PS02CMIC22 PS03CMIC22
Core V Lab II Lab II Lab II
(4 Credits) (PS01CMIC25) (PS02CMIC25) (PS03CMIC25)
Practicals based on Practicals based on Practicals based on
PS01CMIC23 and PS02CMIC23 and PS03CMIC23 and
PS01EMIC2X PS02EMIC2X PS03EMIC2X
Elective I Biochemistry Biostatistics Advanced Lab II
(4 Credits) (PS01EMIC21) (PS02EMIC21) Immunology (PS04E
4EMIC21)
(PS03EMIC21) Practicals based on
PS04CMIC2
CMIC2X and
PS04EMIC2X
EMIC2X
Elective II Biomolecules and Medical Bioinformatics Dissertation
(4 Credits) Bioenergetics Microbiology (PS03EMIC22) (PS04EMIC2
EMIC22)
(PS01EMIC22) (PS02EMIC22) (12 Credits)
Elective III Phytoresource Microtechniques Omics and Microbial Physiology
(4 Credits) Utilization and (PS02EMIC23) Computational (PS04E
4EMIC23)
Conservation Biology
(PS01EMIC23) (PS03EMIC23)
Elective IV Human Physiology Toxicology Plant Biochemistry Food and Dairy
(4 Credits) (PS01EMIC24) (PS02EMIC24) (PS03EMIC24) Microbiology
(PS04E
4EMIC24)
Elective V IPR and Biosafety
(4 Credits) (PS04E
4EMIC25)
Elective VI Plant Biotechnology
(4 Credits) (PS04E
4EMIC26)

Page 1 of 19
 PS01CMIC21: Molecular Biology

Unit I: DNA structure

DNA structure: Chemistry of DNA, DNA structure, Different conformations of DNA
(B, A and Z), Denaturation and Renaturation (Cot curves) of DNA.
DNA topology: Supercoiling, Biology of Supercoiled DNA, DNA topoisomerases
and their mechanism of action.
DNA- protein interactions: General features, Sequence specific DNA binding protein
motifs, ss DNA binding proteins.

Unit II: Organization of genome and its replication

Organization of DNA into chromosomes: Packaging of DNA and organization of
chromosome in bacterial cells; Packaging of DNA in eukaryotic nucleosome and
chromatin condensation, assembly of nucleosomes upon replication, chromatin
modification.
DNA replication: Mechanism of DNA polymerase catalyzed synthesis of DNA,
Types of DNA polymerases in bacteria, Initiation of DNA replication and its
regulation in prokaryotes, assembly of replisome and progress of replication fork,
termination of replication. DNA replication in eukaryotes and archaea. Inhibitors of
DNA replication.

Unit III: Gene expression in prokaryotes and eukaryotes

Transcription: RNA polymerases, features of prokaryotic and eukaryotic promoters,
assembly of transcription initiation complex in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, and its
regulation; synthesis and processing of prokaryotic and eukaryotic transcripts.
Translation: structure and role of t-RNA in protein synthesis, ribosome structure,
basic features of genetic code and its deciphering, translation (initiation, elongation
and termination in detail in prokaryotes as well as eukaryotes).

Unit IV: Regulation of gene expression

Regulation of gene expression in prokaryotes: Operon concept, positive and negative
regulation. Examples of lac (including mutational analysis), ara, and trp operon
regulation; global regulatory responses.
Regulation of gene expression in eukaryotes: Transcriptional, translational and
processing level control mechanisms.

References:

• Genes X: Lewin
• Molecular Biology of the Gene: Watson et al
• Molecular Genetic of Bacteria: Snyder and Champness
• Molecular Biology, 4th Edition: Burton E Tropp
• Principles of Genetics: Snustad and Simmons

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 PS01CMIC22: Bioinstrumentation

Unit I

Visualization techniques:
Principle of working and applications of bright field microscopy, phase contrast
microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, confocal microscopy, scanning and
transmission electron microscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, atomic force
microscopy. Principle and applications of cytophotometry and flow cytometry.

Unit II

Separation techniques:
Basic principle and application of Differential, density and ultracentrifugation
Principle and applications of Native-PAGE, SDS-PAGE, Agarose and 2D gel
electrophoresis. Capillary electrophoresis and its applications.
Principle, methodology and applications of gel – filtration, ion –exchange and affinity
chromatography; Thin layer and High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography. Gas
chromatography, High performance liquid chromatography and FPLC.

Unit III

Spectropscopy
Principle, instrumentation and applications of UV, Visible, IR (including FTIR and
ATR), AAS, NMR, fluorescence and CD spectroscopy.

Unit IV

Principle and applications of tracer technique in biology:

Radioactive Isotopes and half-life of isotopes; Effect of radiation on biological
system; autoradiography; cerenkov radiation; radiation dosimetry; ionization and
scintillation based detection and quantification of radioactivity.
Biosensors: Principle, types and applications.
Principle of biophysical methods used for analysis of biopolymer structure: X ray
diffraction and mass spectrometry.

References:

1. Instrumental method of chemical analysis: Sharma B K

2. Instrumental methods of analysis: D A Skoog
3. An introduction to practical Biochemistry: Plummer
4. Instrumentation: Chatwal and Anand
5. Modern experimental Biology: Boyer

Page 3 of 19
 PS01CMIC23: Cell Biology

Unit I

• Evolution of cell: Cell as a unit of living organism, evolution and structure of

prokaryotic cell, evolution of eukaryotic cell.
• Structure of Plasma membrane, Transport across plasma membrane.
• Endocytosis (Phagocytosis, Receptor mediated endocytosis)
• Cell walls and extracellular matrix
• Cell-Cell interactions (Cell adhesion protein, Tight junctions, gap junctions, plant cell
adhesion and plasmodesmata).

Unit II

• Nucleus, Nuclear pore complex and transport across nuclear envelope.

• Structure and functions of Endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi complex and lysosomes
(Protein sorting and transport, Types of vesicular transport and their functions).
• Structure and function of Mitochondria, Chloroplasts and Peroxisomes.

Unit III

• Cytoskeleton and cell movement (Structure and organization of actin filaments;

Actin, myosin and cell movement; Intermediate filaments; Microtubules and
microtubule motors and movements); cilia and flagella: structure and function.
• Cell signalling: Signalling molecules and their receptors, Functions of cell surface
receptors, pathways of intracellular signal transduction, signal transduction and
cytoskeleton, signalling in development and differentiation.

Unit IV

• Cell division cycle (phases of CDC; Regulation by cell growth and extracellular
signals; cell cycle check points; regulators of cell cycle progression-MPF, cyclins and
CDKs, Inhibitors of cell cycle progression; M-phase and cytokinesis.
• Programmed Cell Death: Difference between necrosis, apoptosis and necroptosis,
Caspases, Central regulators of apoptosis (Bcl-2 family), signalling pathways that
regulate apoptosis.
• Cancer: Types of cancer, development and causes of cancer, properties of transformed
cells, oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes.

References:

• The cell: A molecular approach-Geoffrey M Cooper and Robert E. Hausman

• Cell Biology-Karp
• Molecular Biology of the cell- Alberts
• Molecular Cell Biology-Lodish et al.

PS01CMIC24: Lab I Practicals based on PS01CMIC21 and PS01CMIC22

PS01CMIC25: Lab II Practicals based on PS01CMIC23 and PS01EMIC2X

Page 4 of 19
 PS01EMIC21: Biochemistry
Unit I

• Chemical and physical foundations of biomolecules.

• Water, acid, base and buffers
• Carbohydrate metabolism: Glycolysis and alternate pathways of glucose utilization,
TCA cycle, glyoxylate cycle, Gluconeogenesis, Glycogen synthesis and utilization.

Unit II

• Principles of Thermodynamics; Bioenergetics and energy metabolism in cells.

• Oxidative phosphorylation and Electron transport chain: Electron carriers, iron
sulphur proteins, cytochromes, PMF, ATP synthetase complex. Uncouplers and
inhibitors of energy transfer.

Unit III

• Lipids: Structure and properties of lipids, fatty acids, phospholipids, and other derived
lipids; functions of lipoproteins, cholesterol, steroids and prostaglandins, membrane
lipids.
• Lipid metabolism: synthesis and oxidation of fatty acids (α, β and ω oxidation of fatty
acids).
• Ketone bodies: Formation and degradation
• Vitamins: structure and function.

Unit IV

• Protein structure: primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary structure of proteins.

Determination of protein structure and its analysis, Ramachandran plot, Hydropathy
plot.
• Structure, properties and classification of amino acids, aminoacid metabolism , urea
cycle and nitrogen balance. Disorders associated with amino acid metabolism
• Nucleotides: Structure and functions, Nucleotide metabolism.

References:

• Lehninger’s Principles of Biochemistry: D L Nelson and M M Cox, Macmillan,

Worth Pub. Inc., NY.
• Biochemistry : Lubert Stryer
• Harper’s Biochemistry: R. K. Murray and others, Appleton and Lange, Stanford.
• Microbial Physiology: Moat, Foster and Spector.

Page 5 of 19
 PS01EMIC22- Biomolecules and Bioenergetics

Unit I

Carbohydrates and glycobiology : Monosaccharide - structure of aldoses and ketoses, ring structure
of sugars, conformations of sugars, mutarotation, anomers, epimers and enantiomers, structure of
biologically important sugar derivatives, oxidation of sugars. Formation of disaccharides, reducing
and nonreducing disaccharides. Polysaccharides – homo- and heteropolysaccharides, structural and
storage polysaccharides. Structure and role of proteoglycans, glycoproteins and glycolipids
(gangliosides and lipopolysaccharides). Carbohydrates as informational molecules, working with
carbohydrates, Industrial importance of carbohydrate.

Unit II
Amino acids: Structure and classification, physical, chemical and optical properties of amino acids,
Classification of amino acids, Protein sequencing and alignment

Building blocks of lipids - fatty acids, glycerol, ceramide. Storage lipids - triacyl glycerol and waxes,
Structural lipids in membranes – glycerophospholipids, galactolipids and sulpholipids, sphingolipids
and sterols, structure, distribution and role of membrane lipids.Lipids as signals, cofactors and
pigments

Nucleic acids: Structure of major species of RNA - mRNA, tRNA and rRNA.
Nucleic acid chemistry – UV absorption, effect of acid and alkali on DNA.

Unit III
Acid-Base Equilibrium & Henderson and Hassebach equation, Buffers and their importance, pKa of
amino acid and their relevance, Importance of discontinuous buffer system used in SDS PAGE.

Common reaction mechanism in biological reaction: Peptide bond formation, oligonucleotide and
oligosaccharide synthesis, disulphide bond, group-specific chemical modification for amino acid

Unit IV
Bioenergetics: The laws of thermodynamics, concept of entropy and free energy; ATP synthesis and
hydrolysis, Biological oxidations-–oxygenases ,hydrolases ,dehydrogenases, free energy changes and
redox potentials, Gibbs energy,

The mitochondrial respiratory chain, order and organization of carriers, proton gradient, iron sulphur
proteins, cytochromes and their characterization (Animals, Plants, and Bacteria), ATP- synthetase
complex, Chemiosmotic theory of Energy Coupling, Inhibitors of ETC, Regulation of body
temperature

References:
• Chemistry of Biomolecules by S. P. Bhutani, Ane Books Pvt. Ltd. CRC Press
• Lehninger’s Principles of Biochemistry: D. L. Nelson and M. M. Cox, Macmillan, Worth Pub.
Inc., NY.
• Biochemistry: Lubert Stryer WH Freeman & Co., NY.
• Harper’s Biochemistry: R. K. Murray and others. Appleton and Lange, Stanford.
• Text book of Biochemistry with clinical correlations by Delvin.

Page 6 of 19
 PS01EMIC23: Phytoresource Utilization and Conservation

Unit - I
Plant Biodiversity : Concept, status in India, utilization and concerns.
Origin, evolution, botany, cultivation and uses of (i) Food, forage and fodder crops, (ii) fibre crops
(iii) medicinal and aromatic plants, and (iv) vegetable oil – yielding crops
Plants as sources of drugs, pharmaceauticals and pharmaceutical aids.

Unit -II
Ethnomedicobotany: Basic approaches to study traditional knowledge on herbal medicine; Scope and
potential applications.
Collection methods of ethnomedicobotanical data: Field methods and scrutiny of Herbarium
specimens and folklore; verification of data; collection of materials for voucher specimen and for
phytochemical screening; application of ethnomedicobotany.
Creating indigenous knowledge base of traditional medicines of plant origin.

Unit -III
Forest products:
Important timber yielding planting.
Timber types, identification diagnostic features, structure & quality
Important fire wood plants
Non Timber forest products bamboos, rattans, fibers pulp; gums, resins, tanins, lotex, fruits & tubers.
Innovations for meeting world food demands.
Plants used as avenue trees for shade, pollution control and aesthetics.

Unit –IV
Principles of conservation; extincitons; environmental status of plants based on International Union
for Conservation of Nature.
Strategies for conservation – in situ conservation : International efforts and Indian initiatives;
protected areas in India – sanctuaries, national parks, biosphere reserves, wetlands, mangroves and
coral reefs for conservation of wild biodiversity.
Ex situ conservation : Principles and practices; botanical gardens, fields gene banks, seed banks, in
vitro repositories, cryobanks; general account of the activities of Botanical Survey of India (BSI),
National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), Indian Council of Agricultural Research
(ICAR), Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), and the Department of Biotechnology
(DBT) for conservation, non-formal conservation efforts.

References:

• Anonymous. National Gene Bank: Indian Heritage on Plant Genetic Resources (Booklet).
National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi.
• Arora, R. K. and Nayar, E. R. Wild Relatives of Crop Plants in India. NBPGR
Science Monograph.
• Baker, H. G. Plants and Civilization. C. A. Wadsworth, Belmont.
• Bole, P. V. and Vaghani, Y. Field Guide to Common Indian Trees. Oxford University Press,
Mumbai.
• Chandel, K. P. S., Shukla, G. and Sharma, N. Biodiversity in Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in
India : Conservation and Utilization. National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi.

Page 7 of 19
• Cristi, B. R. CRC Handbook of Plant Sciences and Agriculture. Vol. I. In-situ conservation. CRC
Press, Boca Raton, Florida, USA
• Council of Scientific & Industrial Research. The Useful Plants of India. Publications and
Information Directorate, CSIR, New Delhi.
• Plant Wealth of India. Special Issue of Proceedings India National Science Academcy B – 63
• Rodgers, N. A. and Panwar, H. S. Planning a Wildlife Protected Area Network in India. Vol. 1.
The Report Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun.
• Sahni, K. C. The Book of India Trees, Oxford University Press, Mumbai.
• Sharma, O. P. Hill’s Economic Botany. Tata McGraw Hill Co. Ltd., New Delhi.
• Swaminathan, M. S. and Kocchar, S. L. Plants and Society. Macmillan Publication Ltd.,
London.
• Thakur, R. S., Puri, H. S. and Husain, A Major Medicinal Plants of India. Central Institute of
Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, CSIR, Lucknow. S.K. Jain: A Manual of Ethnobotany
• S.K. Jain: Glimpses of Indian Ethnobotany
• S.K.Jain, B.K. Sinha and R.C.Gupta: Notable plants in Ethnomedicine of India
• J.K. Maheswari: Dictionary of Indian Folk medicine and Ethnobotany
• S.K. Jain: Useful plants of India
• Wiley Chichester, CIBA Foundation Symposium 185: Ethnobotany and the search for new
drugs

Page 8 of 19
 PS01EMIC24: Human physiology

Unit I
Homeostasis and the organization of body fluids, Control of Homeostasis, Positive and
negative Feedback systems, Homeostatic Imbalances.
An overview of human circulatory system. Anatomy of heart, cardiac cycle, cardiac output,
blood pressure and regulation, ECG. The arterial system, venous system, the microcirculation
and mechanics of capillary fluid exchange. Control of blood flow to the tissues. Portal
circulations. Arterial pressure and its regulation. Blood-components and functional
significance. Blood buffer systems, Blood coagulation and factors involved in coagulation.
Laboratory tests to measure coagulation and thrombolysis. Hemopoiesis and blood groups,
Disorders of circulatory system: coagulation disorders, hypertension, thalassaemias and
anemias.

Unit II
Digestive system – Composition, functions and regulation of saliva, gastric, pancreatic
intestinal and bile secretions – digestion and absorption of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins
nucleic acids, minerals and vitamins.
The Muscular System – Types of muscles and their functions. Physiology of muscle
contraction in striated and non-striated muscle.

Unit III
Excretory system – structure of nephron formulation of urine, glomerular filteration, GFR,
tubular reabsorption of glucose. renal and pulmonary control of blood pH, renal clearance.

Unit IV
Nervous System- Structure of neuron, function and organization of nervous system, Blood-
brain barrier, Neurotransmitters, Nerve impulse transmission.
Reproductive physiology – secretion and function of reproductive hormones, pregnancy and
lactation. Hormonal disturbances.

References:
Text book of Medical Physiology by A. C. Guyton and J. E. Harcourt.
Text book of Medical Physiology by Ganong.
Principles of anatomy and physiology by Gerard Tortora and Bryan Derrickson, 12th edition

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