GATE 2027 Life Science Syllabus: New Syllabus and Tips

GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering) 2027 has been announced by IIT Madras. The GATE Exam is one of the most prestigious exams in India. It is the national-level exam to get admission to MSc and PhD programs across 30 subjects in IITs, NITs, IISc, and other technical institutes.

The GATE 2027 life science syllabus has been announced by IIT Madras. Life science is the paper in the GATE exam, which is given by biological science students and gets admission in various subjects in biological science in different institutes.T

o crack the GATE 2027 examination, you have to understand the syllabus, and you have to make your study plan according to the new syllabus. In this article, you can understand the GATE 2027 life science syllabus, and you also find the comparison between the GATE 2026 and GATE 2027 syllabi.

GATE 2027 Life Science Syllabus Overview

Before starting your exam, you have to know about your exam syllabus.

GATE 2027 Life Science syllabus

The GATE Life Science paper is divided into 5 major sections, including biochemistry, zoology, botany, microbiology, and food technology. Students can choose any two subjects out of five subjects along with general aptitude and chemistry. General aptitude and chemistry are compulsory subjects.

Chemistry (common for all XL students)

Section 1: Atomic Structure and Periodicity

• Planck’s quantum theory
• wave-particle duality, uncertainty principle
• comparison between Bohr’s model
• quantum mechanical model of the 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 the 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: Bioinorganic Chemistry

Oxygen transport and storage metalloproteins (hemoglobin, myoglobin, hemocyanin); electron transport Fe-S
metalloproteins: carbonic anhydrase and Cu-Zn superoxide dismutase.

Section 5: 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 6: Electrochemistry

Conductance, Kohlrausch’s law, cell potentials, EMF, the Nernst equation, thermodynamic aspects, and their applications.

Section 7: 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 8: Thermodynamics

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

Section 9: Structure-Reactivity Correlations and Organic Reaction Mechanisms

Acids and bases, electronic and steric effects, stereochemistry, optical and geometrical isomerism, tautomerism,
conformers and the concept of aromaticity. Elementary treatment of SN1, SN2, E1, E2, and radical reactions,
Hoffmann/Saytzeff rules, addition reactions, the Markownikoff rule, and the Kharasch effect. Elementary hydroboration
reactions. Grignard’s reagents and their uses.

Aromatic electrophilic substitutions, nucleophilic aromatic substitutions, and the orientation effect as exemplified by various functional groups. Identification of common functional groups by chemical tests.

Section 10: 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.
Electronic absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy for the identification of biological molecules.

Also read- the GATE 2027 Biotechnology syllabus

Biochemistry

Section 1: Structure and Function of Biomolecules

Organization of life; Importance of water; Structure and function of biomolecules: Carbohydrates, lipids, proteins,
and nucleic acids; protein structure, folding/misfolding, and function; myoglobin, hemoglobin, lysozyme,
ribonuclease A, carboxypeptidase, and chymotrypsin.

Section 2: Enzymes and General Principles of Metabolism

Enzymes: catalysis, specificity, and regulation, kinetics (up to two substrates), and enzyme inhibitors; Regulatory
Enzymes, vitamins and coenzymes, general principles of metabolism, hormonal regulation of metabolism;
Generation and utilization of ATP.

Section 3: Metabolic Pathways and Associated Disorders

Glycolysis, TCA cycle, pentose phosphate pathway, oxidative phosphorylation, gluconeogenesis, and fatty acid
metabolism: metabolism of nitrogen-containing compounds: nitrogen fixation, amino acids, and nucleotides.
Photosynthesis, photophosphorylation, and the Calvin cycle. Metabolic disorders (sugars, amino acids, and lipids).

Section 4: Analytical Techniques

Buffering against pH changes in biological systems, the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation, ion exchange, size
exclusion and affinity chromatography, thin-layer and paper chromatography, centrifugation; characterization of
biomolecules by electrophoresis; Analytical methods to study DNA-protein and protein-protein interactions;
Lambert-Beer law, UV-visible, and fluorescence spectroscopy; next-generation DNA sequencing, PCR, and
site-directed mutagenesis. Antibody-antigen interaction; immunological techniques: immunodiffusion,
immune-electrophoresis, RIA and ELISA, flow cytometry, and monoclonal antibodies and their applications.

Section 5: Cell Structure and Function

Cell structure and organelles; Biological membranes; transport across membranes; membrane assembly, protein
targeting and degradation; biosignalling, receptor-ligand interaction, two-component systems, hormones, and
neurotransmitters, toxins, and ion channels.

Section 6: Gene Expression and Its Regulation and DNA Repair

DNA replication, transcription, and translation; DNA damage and repair; nuclease accessibility methods;
Biochemical regulation of gene expression.

Botany

Section 1: Plant Systematics

Botanical nomenclature, history of plant taxonomy, diversity and classification of plants, and APG system of plants
classification; major families such as Apiaceae, Apocynaceae, Asteraceae, Lamiaceae, Myrtaceae, Solanaceae,
Verbenaceae, Poaceae, and Orchidaceae; 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, and 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 gametophytes; 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, and 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, and solutes from soil to plants, apoplastic
and symplastic transport mechanisms; the mechanism of stomatal movements, nitrogen metabolism, and 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, and metal toxicity; Role of abscisic acid in abiotic stresses; structure and function of biomolecules (proteins, carbohydrates, l lipids,nucleic acid), enzyme kinetics; structure and biosynthesis of major plant secondary metabolites (alkaloids,
terpenes, phenylpropanoids, and flavonoids); biosynthesis, mechanism of action, and physiological effects of auxin,
cytokinin, gibberellic acid, brassinosteroid, ethylene, strigolactone, abscisic acid, salicylic and jasmonic acid;
Plant peptide hormones, the concept of hormone-receptor-repressor, and senescence and programmed cell death.

GATE XL 2027 syllabus pdf

Section 5: Genetics and Genomics

Cell cycle and cell division; Principles of Mendelian inheritance, linkage, recombination, and 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; Large data analysis, bioinformatics, statistical
analysis

Section 6: Plant Breeding, Genetic Modification, and 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 the fiber economy; genetically modified crops and their regulation, e.g., Bt cotton, Bt brinjal, golden rice, etc.; Chemical
biology of phytochemicals; postharvest processing of tea and essential oil-bearing plants.

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 defense response;
Salicylic acid (SA) and jasmonic acid (JA) in plant-pathogen and plant-herbivore interaction, necrosis, and calcium
signalling in plants; 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 the 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, and plant interactions with other organisms;
epiphytes, parasites, and endophytes.

Microbiology

Section 3: Historical Perspective

Discovery of the microbial world; landmark discoveries relevant to the field of microbiology; Controversy over
spontaneous generation; the role of microorganisms in the transformation of organic matter and in the causation of
diseases.

Section 2: Methods in Microbiology

Pure culture techniques: Disinfection and Sterilization: principles, methods, and assessment of efficacy; 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; CRISPR-Cas.

Section 3: Microbial Taxonomy and Diversity

Bacteria, Archaea, 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

Cell walls, cell membranes, and their biosynthesis; Mechanisms of solute transport across membranes: Flagella
and Pili, Capsules, and 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;
Sporulation, quorum sensing, and bacterial biofilm and biofouling.

Section 6: 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 acid synthesis, and common regulatory mechanisms
in the synthesis of amino acids; regulation of major metabolic pathways.

Section 7: 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 8: Control of Micro-organisms: Chemotherapy/Antibiotics

General characteristics of antimicrobial drugs; Antibiotics: Classification, molecular mechanism of mode of action
and resistance; antifungal and antiviral drugs

Section 9: 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, and 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; cell cycle and cell division in lower eukaryotes.

Section 10: Microbial Ecology

Microbial interactions; carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen cycles; soil microorganisms associated with vascular plants;
Bioremediation; unculturable microorganisms; Basic concept of metagenomics and metatranscriptomics.

Zoology

Section 1: Animal Diversity

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 anatomy and physiology, respiratory system, muscular system, circulatory system, digestive system,
nervous system, excretory system, endocrine system, reproductive system, skeletal system.

Section 8: Parasitology and Immunology

Nature of parasite, host-parasite relation, protozoan and helminthic parasites, the immune system, 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, biodiversity hotspots in India.

Section 11: Animal Behaviour

Type of animal behaviours and their evolution, courtship, mating and territoriality, instinct, learning and memory,
social behaviour across the animal taxa, communication, pheromones.