# What are the restriction enzymes and why are they so important in rDNA technology?

# What is intellectual property and what rights are available to protect it?
# What are the advantages of getting a patent?
# What are ‘biosensors’? How are biosensors used for environmental monitoring and bio-monitoring?
# What is biohydrometallurgy and biomineralization? How can microbes be used for extraction of metals and for inducting
mineral deposits?
# Describe in detail, the role of biofertilizers and bioinsecticides in protecting the environment?
# What is metabolic engineering and how can it be used for overproduction of metabolites in plants?
# What do you understand by ‘protein engineering’? What is the difference between ‘protein engineering’ and ‘genetic
engineering’?
# What are “Transgenic plants”? How do we obtain transgenic plants?
# What is ‘molecular farming’? How and which transgenic plants can be used as ‘bioreactors’ for producing important drugs and
chemicals?
# Write short notes on: a) virus mediated gene transfer, b) microinjection, c) electroporation, d) particle gun method.
# What are cybrids? How are they produced? Discuss the use of cybrids in crop improvement programmes.
# What is micropropagation? Describe the technique of micropropagation and discuss the different possible uses.
# What is somaclonal variation? Discuss the role that they play in crop improvement.
# What is gene therapy? What are the limitations and prospects of its use in medicine.
# What is the difference between “molecular farming” and “molecular pharming”? What useful products can be obtained by using
transgenic animals as “bioreactors”?
# What are GM foods? What precautions one should observe regarding the safety of GM foods?
# What are the genetic engineering strategies to create (a) edible vaccines, (b) herbicide tolerant plants?
# What is explant culture? What are the steps involved in explant culture?
# What is direct gene transfer? What are the methods of direct gene transfer?
# Write a short note on “bioethics in animal genetic engineering”?
# What is meant by plant regeneration? Give the different pathways of plant regeneration.
# What is “molecular breeding”? What types of markers are used in screening/selection?
# What are the essential features of a vector?
# Write a short note on FISH technique? How can FISH technique help in the detection of chromosomal abnormalities?
# What is “micro array technology?
# Write a short note on ‘genome sequencing project’ and why is it essential for sequencing a genome?
# What are the different types of sequences entered into the database?
# What are the different methods for small scale sequencing of genome?
# How can we use comparative CDNA hybridization micro array method to differentiate between the normal cell and cancerous
cells?
# What is the application of
a) structural Proteomics,
b) Functional Proteomics?
# What is a Recombinant DNA?
# Why don’t the restriction enzymes destroy the DNA of the organism in which they are produced?
# What function the enzymes DNA ligase perform?
# What are the essential features of a vector?
# What are ‘immunotoxins’?
# What is the use of ‘drug designing’?
# What is the advantage of using an ‘immobilized enzyme’ over a ‘free enzyme’?
# Discuss the use of molecular probes and antibodies in forensic science for identification of criminals.
# What are YACs and contigs? How do they help in making the molecular maps for animal genomes?
# What are monoclonal antibodies? What is the method to prepare monoclonal antibodies?
# What is ‘hybridoma technology”?
# What do you mean by the term “tissue engineering”?
# What is vector less gene transfer? What are the methods used to transfer genes directly in plants?
# How are virus- free plants obtained?
# What do you mean by term “embryo rescue”?
# Name two conditions necessary for maintaining animal cells in culture which are different from plant cell culture.
# What is the composition of nutrient media used for plant culture?
# What are cell lines? How are the growth characteristics of cell lines determined?
# What is the importance of karyotyping in established cell lines?
# What is the difference between primary cell lines and secondary cell lines?
# Explain how embryo rescue can be used to produce novel hybrids?
# Explain why Agrobacterium tumefaciens is known as “natural genetic engineer of plants”?
# What is the common strategy to produce transgenic crops with delayed ripening and longer shelf life of fruits?
# Why was it necessary to create a bioinformatics database?
# Name some of the database retrieval tools. What is their purpose?
# What is the BLAST family of search tools?
# Based on genomic studies, why do people say that different species and organism had a common ancestor 100 million years
ago?
# What are the two techniques which help us to understand the gene expressed in a cell or tissue under different environmental
conditions?
# What is the mode of action of tPA? How is it produced by animal cell culture technology?
Sample question paper I
1. Name two human diseases caused by the absence of a protein? (1)
2. If a scientist is given a 200 Kb fragments of DNA to clone which vector will he prefer to use? (2)
3. What is sparging? (1)
4. Define “Subculturing”. (1)
5. Which property of the plant cell is exploited to culture plant cells? (1)
6. Give four advantages of Aqueous Two-Phase Partition Chromatography. (2)
7. What is a Homologene? (1)
8. A scientist needs to cut a DNA containing the palindromic sequence of GATC. Will he use a restriction endonulcease or
DNase and why? (2)
9. Why are antifoaming agents added in the microbiological cultures? (2)
10. Give a few methods of concentration of protein. (3)
11. Explain how embryo rescue can be used to produce novel hybrids. (3)
12. Name two important products from animal cell culture technology. What are their
functions? (2)
13. How does the treatment with CaCl2 increase the competence levels of bacteria? (2)
14. Suggest two methods of preserving microbial strains. (2)
15. What do you man by term “Genomics”? (2)
16. Indicate one application of site-directed mutagenesis. (2)
17. What are the conventions adopted by the Database personnel to store nucleic acid data and protein sequence data with regard
to the direction of the sequence? What is the basis of the convention? (3)
18. A single E. Coli cell produces 10 molecules of a protein called repressor which has a molecular weight of 50,000 daltons. If
the shape of the E. Coli cell resembles a cylinder of diameter 1 micrometer and height 2 micrometer, Calculate the number of E.
Coli cells required as starting material to purify 1 g of the repressor if the purification yield is only 70%. (3)
19. What is direct gene transfer? What are the methods of direct gene transfer? (5)
20. Write a short note on protein based product. (5)
21. Define the following: (a) Plasmid, (b) Restriction site, (c) Transformation, (d) Mutation, (e) Transfection (5)
22. How can we use microbial cultures for the production of metabolites? (3)
23. What is the possible benefit of embryonic stem cell technology? (3)
24. What are the various measures taken to ensure protein stability during purification? (3)
25. Write a short note on the bioethics in animal Genetic engineering. (5)

SAMPLE QUESTION PAPER II

1. What is the carbon part of BCAA used as? (1)

2. What function does the enzymes DNA Ligase perform? (1)
3. Under what conditions, continuous culture is most suitable? (1)
4. What are the single letter IUPAC codes for alanine, glycine, tryptophan, tyrosine, serine, methionine? (3)
5. Who proposed the concept of the famous “cell theory”? (1)
6. Define: Subunit, domain, and quaternary structure in proteins. (3)
7. What is molecular evolution? What are the observations regarding protein sequence variations vis-à-vis evolution? (3)
8. What are the DNA probes? (2)
9. What is the consequence if a protein is incorrectly folded? Give an example to illustrate your answer. (2)
10. Give two examples of plants grown using callus culture. (1)
11. What would happen if naked viral DNA is introduced into a bacterial cell? (2)
12. What are the differences between Batch culture and Fed Batch culture? (3)
13. Differentiate between functional and structural genomics? (3)
14. What are the disadvantages of using E. Coli for production of eukaryotic proteins? (3)
15. Differentiate between roller bottle and spinner cultures? (3)
16. Recombinant insulin is produced at 100 mg/L by E. Coli at a cell concentration of 1 g/L. Calculate the volume of reactor (size
of fermenter) needed for producing 1 kilogram of insulin in these conditions. (3)
17. How frequently will a sequence GATC occur in the human genome theoretically? (3)
18. What is BLAST and what are the principles involved in it? (3)
19. Give the applications of the following: (a) Structural Proteomics, (b) Functional Proteomics, (c) Isoelectric Focussing, (d)
Expression Proteomics, (e) Two-dimensional Gel Electrophoresis, (f) Edman Sequencing, and (g) Mass spectrometry.
20. What are the conventions adopted by the Database personnel to store nucleic acid data and protein sequence data with regard
to the direction of the sequence? What is the basis of the convention? (4)
21. How can DNA cut with a staggered cutting enzyme joined (cloned)? (5)
22. Write a short note on the history of bioinformatics?
23. E. coli is a rod shaped bacteria about 2 micrometer long and 1 micrometer in diameter. The average density of a cell is 1.28
g/ml. Approximately 13.5% of the wet weight of E. coli is soluble protein. Estimate the number of molecules of a particular
enzyme per cell if the enzyme has a molecular weight of 100,000 and represents 0.1% of the total soluble protein. (answer: 1626
molecules/cell) (5)
24. Which types of dyes are used for DNA sequencing? (1)
25. What is the use of Coulter counter? (1)
Questions:
1. How many moles of CaCl2 would for making 5 X 102 cm3 of a 5M solution?
2. Battery acid is generally 3M H2SO4. Roughly how many grams of H2SO4 are in 500ml of this solution?
3. Why does ice float on water?
4. Why must cells be small?
5. The RNA is pre- biotic? Justify your answer.
6. How DNA triple helix is stabilized? Assume you have isolated a E. coli mutant, which contains genome as triple helix.
What way will it have different fundamental processes?
7. What is Collagen and α- helix? Compare 1,̊ 2,̊ secondary and quaternary structures of Collagen and α- helix.
8. How do you determine the size and shape of biomolecules in solution?
9. Can you suggest three techniques used for identification and separation of sDNA and ds DNA and give principle of
each of them?
10. What factors determine the variability in terrestrial ecosystem productivity?
11. How feedback loops are involved in regulation of stomatal opening and closing?
12. You have purified a RNA binding proteinfrom E. coli cell lysate. Can you design an another experiment to confirm it?
13. What is the tautomeric shift in the Purine of Pyrimidine base? Schematically explain how tautomeric shift in a base in
DNA may lead to mutation?
14. What is programmed cell death? Give important features of the PCD. Give instances where it occurs during plant
development.
15. What is the pH of distilled water? Give reasons.
16. What is the difference between distilled water and deionized water?
17. Draw competitive and noncompetitive inhibition Line Weaver Burk plots. Explain three different trends with respect to
mode of inhibition.
18. Explain the conditions under which two species can exist in the single niche. Don’t they reject competitive exclusion
principle.
19. Explain the relationship between Biomass and Productivity.
20. Explain adaptive radiation with example of Darwin’s Finches.
21. What is the difference between Climatric and Non-climatric fruit? Give three examples.
22. What is photorespiration and why is it needed by plants?
23. How is the depletion of ozone affecting the plankton levels in the oceans?
24. Why is virulence lost on subculturing?
25. What are abzymes and ribozymes? Explain the differences and similiarities.