m.sc Biotechnology (Banaras Hindu University )

M.Sc. Biotechnology (4 -Semesters w.e.f. July 2004) OUTLINES OF SYLLABUS (Total Credits-90)
1 SEMESTER
Core Courses Course No. 1 Microbiology Course No. 2 Genetics and Molecular Biology
4 credit Course No. 3 Biochemistry & Biophysics 4 credit
Minor Elective Course No. 4 Cell Biology & Virology 3 credit
PRACTICALS Course No. 5 Based on Course No. 1& 4 2.5 credit
Course No. 6 Based on Course No. 2 & 3 2.5 credit 2 ND SEMESTER
Core Courses Course No. 7 Biology of the Immune System 4 credit Course No. 8
Enzymology & Enzyme Technology 4 credit Course No. 9 Genetic Engineering 4 credit
Course No. 10 Environmental Biotechnology 4 Credit
PRACTICALS -
Course No. 11
Based on Course No. 7 & 8
2.5 credit
Course No. 12
Based on Course No. 9 & 10
2.5 credit
Minor Elective
Course No. 13
Term Paper and Seminar
1.5 credit
3
RD
SEMESTER
Core Courses
Course No. 14
Animal Cell Culture
4 credit
Course No. 15
Plant Biotechnology
4 credit
Course No. 16
Bioprocess Engineering & Technology
4 Credit
( 13 )


Minor Elective
Course No. 17
Computer applications, Bio-Informatics & Biostatistics
3 credit
PRACTICALS -
Course No. 18
Based on Course No. 14 & 15
2 credit
Course No. 19
Based on Course No. 16 & 17
2 credit
Minor Elective
Course No. 20
Term Paper and Seminar
1.5 credit
4
TH
SEMESTER
Major Elective
Course No. 21 Course based on Research project and its Seminar in the area of Animal, Plant and
Microbial Biotechnology.
27 Credit
Course No. 1 :
Microbiology
4 credit
1. History of Microbiology, Discovery of the microbial world
2. Isolation, pure culture techniques, Methods of sterilization and Enrichment culture techniques
3. Bacterial identification, nomenclature and classification, New approaches to bacterial taxonomy /
classification including ribotyping and ribosomal RNA sequencing
4. General structure and features, Brief account of all group of bacteria and cyanobacteria, Rickettsia,
Chlamydia and Mycoplasma
Archaea : Archaebacteria and extremophilic microbes – their biotechnological potentials
5. The definition of growth, growth curve, measurement of growth and growth yields, Culture
collection and maintenance of cultures
6. Different modes of nutrition in bacteria, Sulfate reduction, Nitrogen metabolism – nitrate
reduction, nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria, Nitrogen fixation and Microbes used as biofertilizer
7. Viruses : Classification, morphology and composition of viruses in general,
Bacteriophages : φX 174, cyanophages and retroviruses, Viroids and Prions
Course No. 2 :
Genetics and Molecular Biology
4 credit
1. Introduction to cell division, Mendelian Laws and physical basis of inheritance, dominance and its
molecular basis
2. Basics of gene interaction, cis-trans-test and complementation test, lethal genes, polygenic traits,
linkage and gene maps
3. Double helix: Physico-chemical considerations
( 14 )


Page 3
4. Organization of prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes, supercoiling, repetitive DNA
5. DNA replication: Mechanism of replication of Prokaryotic & Eukaryotic Chromosome
6. Mutation: Types and molecular mechanisms of mutations, mutagens, DNA Repair
7. Transposition: Mechanisms of transposition, role of transposons in mutation
8. Gene transfer in prokaryotes: Transformation, conjugation, transduction, construction of genetic
maps in bacteria
9. Recombination: Homologous and site - specific recombination
10. Gene expression in bacteria: Transcription and its regulation; operons, attenuation, anti-
termination and anti-sense controls
11. Prokaryotic translation machinery, mechanism and regulation of translation
12. Gene expression in eukaryotes: Transcription, general and specific transcription factors, regulatory
elements and mechanism of regulation, processing of transcripts
Course No. 3 :
Biochemistry & Biophysics
4 credit
1. Carbohydrates; Glycolysis, Gluconeogenesis, Krebs’ Cycle, Electron transport chain, Oxidative
Phosphorylation.
2. Fatty acids; general properties and ß- oxidation
3. Nitrogen metabolism: Amino acids (general properties); Amino acid sequencing and composition;
end group analysis
4. Proteins: Protein structure (primary, secondary, tertiary & quaternary), Globular, Fibrous proteins;
Ramachandran plot, Circular Dichroism, Hydrophobic and hydrophilic interactions. PAGE, SDS-
PAGE, Diagonal Electrophoresis
5. Protein folding (Introduction / Tools to study folding – unfolding phenomenon)
6. DNA - protein interactions; DNA-drug interactions
Course No. 4 :
Cell Biology & Virology
3 credit
1. Principles of Microscopy
2. Structure of Cell (Bacterial, Plant and Animal) - Cell membranes, Composition of Cell Wall
3. Structure and function of organelles (Mitochondria, Chloroplast, Nucleus, Golgi apparatus,
Lysosomes, Ribosomes) and Cytoskeletal elements
4. Cell adhesion
5. Basic concepts of signal transduction
6. Transport across biomembranes: facilitated transport, group translocation, Active transport, Na
+
-K
+
ATPase pump
7. Cell cycle and its control
( 15 )


Page 4
8. Oncogenesis
9. Bacterial Viruses : Bacteriophage lambda and Single stranded DNA Phages (M13)
10. Plant Viruses : TMV, CaMV and Gemini Virus
11. Animal Viruses : Baculoviruses
PRACTICALS
Course No. 5 :
Based on Course No. 1& 4
2.5 credit
Course No. 6 :
Based on Course No. 2 & 3
2.5 credit
2
ND
SEMESTER
Course No. 7 :
Biology of the Immune System
4 credit
1. Introduction
- Innate and acquired immunity
- Clonal nature of the immune response
2. Nature of antigens
3. Antibody structure and function
4. Antigen - antibody reactions
5. Major histocompatibility complex
6. Complement system
7. Hematopoiesis and differentiation
8. Regulation of the immune response: Activation of B and T-lymphocytes, Cytokines, T-cell
regulation, MHC restriction, Immunological tolerance
9. Cell-mediated cytotoxicity : Mechanism of cytotoxic T cells and NK cells mediated target cell
lysis, Antibody dependent cell mediated cytotoxicity, macrophage mediated cytotoxicity
10. Hypersensitivity
11. Autoimmunity
12. Transplantation
13. Immunity to infection and tumours
Course No. 8 :
Enzymology & Enzyme Technology
4 credit
1. Classification and nomenclature of enzymes
2. Isolation, purification and large-scale production of enzymes
3. Coenzymes and Cofactors
( 16 )



4. Steady state kinetics: Methods for estimation of rate of enzyme catalyzed reaction with special
reference to Michaelis-Menten equation. Effects of substrate, temperature, pH and inhibitors on
enzyme activity and stability
5. Mechanism of enzyme action ( active site, chemical modification) and regulation (Zymogens,
Isozymes)
6. Enzyme engineering
7. Applications of enzymes
8. Immobilization of Enzymes
Course No. 9 :
Genetic Engineering
4 credit
1. Restriction endonucleases, Modification methylases and other enzymes needed in genetic
engineering
2. Cloning vectors: Plasmids and plasmid vectors, Phages and Phage Vectors, phagemids, cosmids,
artificial chromosome vectors ( YAC, BAC), Animal virus derived vectors - SV40 and retroviral
vectors
3. Molecular cloning: Recombinant DNA techniques, construction of genomic DNA and cDNA
libraries, screening of recombinants
4. Expression strategies for heterologous genes
5. DNA analysis: labeling of DNA and RNA probes. Southern and fluorescence in situ hybridization,
DNA fingerprinting, chromosome walking
6. Techniques for gene expression: Northern and Western blotting, gel retardation technique, DNA
footprinting, Primer extension, Sl mapping, Reporter assays
7. Sequencing of DNA, chemical synthesis of oligonucleotides; techniques of in vitro mutagenesis,
Site-directed mutagenesis, gene replacement and gene targeting
8. Polymerase chain reaction and its applications
9. Use of transposons in genetic analysis: Transposon tagging and its use in identification and
isolation of genes
10. Applications of genetic engineering: Transgenic animals, production of
recombinant
pharmaceuticals, gene therapy, disease diagnosis
11. Biosafety regulation: Physical and Biological containment
Course No. 10 :
Environmental Biotechnology
4 Credit
1. Environment : Basic concepts and issues
2. Environmental pollution: types of pollution, measurement of pollution; Methodology of
environmental management - the problem solving approach, its limitations
3. Air Pollution and its control through Biotechnology
( 17 )


Page 6
4. Water pollution and its Control : Water as a scarce natural resource; Need for water management;
Measurement of water pollution; Sources of water pollution; Wastewater collection; Wastewater
treatment-physical, chemical and biological treatment processes, Microbiology of waster water
treatments; Aerobic processes: Activated sludge, Oxidation ditches, Trickling filter, Towers,
Rotating discs, Rotating drums, Oxidation ponds; Anaerobic processes: Anaerobic processes;
Anaerobic digestion, Anaerobic filters, Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors; Treatment
schemes for wastewaters of dairy, distillary, sugar, antibiotic industries
5. Degradation of Xenobiotic Compounds in Environment - Decay behaviour & degradative
plasmids; Hydrocarbons, Substituted hydrocarbons, Oil pollution, Surfactants, Bioremediation of
contaminated soils
6. Biopesticides; their roles in pest management
7. Solid wastes; Sources and management: composting, wormiculture and methane production, Food,
feed and energy from solid waste (biomass and agrowastes)
8. Global Environmental Problems: Ozone depletion, UV-B and greenhouse effect, Acid rain, its
impact and biotechnological approaches for management
PRACTICALS
Course No. 11 :
Based on Course No. 7 & 8
2.5 credit
Course No. 12 :
Based on Course No. 9 & 10
2.5 credit
Minor Elective
Course No. 13 :
Term Paper and Seminar
1.5 credit
3
RD
SEMESTER
Course No. 14 :
Animal Cell Culture
4 credit
1. Introduction to the balanced salt solutions and simple growth medium. Brief discussion on the
chemical, physical and metabolic functions of different constituents of culture medium
2. Biology and characterization of the cultured cells
3. Measuring parameters of Growth
4. Basic techniques of mammalian cell cultures in vitro
5. Serum & protein free defined media and their applications
6. Measurement of viability and Cytotoxicity
7. Cell synchronization
8. Cell transformation
9. Applications of animal cell culture, Stem cells and their applications, Hybridoma Technology and
Monoclonal antibodies
10. Organ Culture
( 18 )


Page 7
Course No. 15 :
Plant Biotechnology
4 credit
1. Introduction and history. Tissue culture media, Initiation and maintenance of callus and
suspension cultures; single cell clones
2. Biochemical production
3. Organogenesis; somatic embryogenesis; transfer and establishment of whole plants in soil
4. Rapid clonal propagation and production of virus -free plants
5. In vitro pollination; embryo culture and embryo rescue
6. Protoplast fusion, selection of hybrid cells; symmetric and asymmetric hybrids, cybrids.
7. Nuclear cytology of cultured plant cells and somaclonal variations
8. Production of haploid plants and their utilization
9. Cryopreservation and slow growth for germ plasm conservation
10. Gene transfer in nuclear genome and chloroplasts; Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer, direct
gene transfer, gene silencing
11. Transgenic plants: insect resistance, virus resistance, resistance to fungal / bacterial diseases,
longer shelf life, male sterility
12. Molecular markers: RFLP, RAPD, AFLP, applications of molecular markers
Course No. 16 :
Bioprocess Engineering & Technology
4 Credit
1. Isolation, Preservation and Maintenance of Industrial Microorganisms
2. Microbial Growth and Death Kinetics
3. Media for Industrial Fermentation
4. Air and Media Sterilization
5. Types of fermentation processes - Analysis of batch, Fed-batch and continuous bioreactions,
stability of microbial reactors, analysis of mixed microbial populations, specialized bioreactors
(pulsed, fluidized, photobioreactors etc.,)
6. Measurement and control of bioprocess parameters
7. Downstream Processing
8. Whole cell Immobilization and their Industrial Applications
9. Industrial Production of Chemicals - Ethanol, Acids (citric, acetic and gluconic), solvents
(glycerol, acetone, butanol), Antibiotics (penicillin, streptomycin, tetracycline), Semisynthetic
antibiotics, Aminoacids (lysine, glutamic acid), Single Cell Protein.
10. Use of microbes in mineral beneficiation and oil recovery
11. Introduction to Food Technology
-
Elementary idea of canning and packing
( 19 )


Page 8
-
Sterilization and Pasteurization of Food Products
-
Technology of Typical Food/Food products (bread, cheese, idli)
Course No. 17:
Computer applications, Bioinformatics & Biostatistics
3 credit
1. Introduction of digital computers : Organization ; low-level and high - level languages; binary
number system, Concept of operating system
2. Flow charts and programming techniques
3. Introduction to programming in C
4. Introduction to data structures and database concepts, Overview of DBMS. Network topologies
and protocols, Internet and its applications. Web-enabled services
5. Introduction to MS-OFFICE software, covering Word Processing, Spreadsheets and presentation
software
6. Computer-oriented statistical techniques : Frequency table of single discrete variable, Bubble sort,
computation of mean, variance and standard deviation; t-test, correlation coefficient
7. Introduction to Bio-informatics :
- Definition and Aims,
- Fundamentals of Database searching,
- Computational gene finding – multiple allignment and sequence search,
- Predicting structure and function,
- Molecular Evolution and phylogenetic trees,
PRACTICALS
Course No. 18 :
Based on Course No. 14 & 15
2 credit
Course No. 19 :
Based on Course No. 16 & 17
2 credit
Minor Elective
Course No. 20 :
Term Paper and Seminar
1.5 credit
4
TH
SEMESTER
Course No. 21:
27 Credit
Course based on project and its Seminar in the area of Animal, Plant and Microbial Biotechnology.