STUDY MATERIAL · GATE BT
GATE Genetics, Cell and Molecular Biology: questions and notes
Genetics, Cell and Molecular Biology questions from 7 GATE papers (2019–2026) with the official answers, 72 of 75 solved step by step, plus notes for each topic, a formula sheet and practice questions.
- previous-year questions
- 75previous-year questions
- solved step by step
- 72solved step by step
- GATE papers, 2019–2026
- 7GATE papers, 2019–2026
- topics with notes
- 7topics with notes
TOPICS
Seven topics, in the order they are taught
Taken from the official GATE 2027 syllabus. Each topic has notes, the formulas you need, its previous-year questions with the official answers, most of them solved step by step, and practice questions.
Mendelian genetics, gene interaction and linkage mapping
Study notes on Mendelian inheritance, gene interaction and linkage mapping for GATE BT.
10 previous-year questions · 16 marks · 7 practice questions
Microbial genetics, gene transfer and transposable elements
Bacteria exchange genes by three mechanistically distinct routes of horizontal gene transfer: transformation (uptake of free DNA), conjugation (plasmid-driven transfer through cell contact), and transduction (phage-packaged DNA, generalized or specialized).
2 previous-year questions · 2 marks · 7 practice questions
Chromosomal variation, genetic disorders, population genetics and evolution
This unit covers genetics at the level of chromosomes and of populations.
11 previous-year questions · 18 marks · 8 practice questions
Cell structure, cell cycle, protein trafficking and cell death
Study notes for GATE BT "Cell structure, cell cycle, protein trafficking and cell death".
15 previous-year questions · 25 marks · 6 practice questions
Cell communication and signal transduction
Cell communication and signal transduction cover how cells send and receive signals (endocrine, paracrine, synaptic, autocrine, contact-dependent, gap junctions and plasmodesmata, bacterial quorum sensing).
7 previous-year questions · 9 marks · 6 practice questions
Genes and chromosomes, mutation and DNA repair
Prokaryotic genes are often grouped in operons and read from polycistronic mRNAs with a Shine–Dalgarno site before each start codon.
9 previous-year questions · 14 marks · 6 practice questions
Replication, transcription, translation and regulation of gene expression
GATE Biotechnology study notes on DNA replication (prokaryotic and eukaryotic, telomeres), transcription, RNA processing, translation, prokaryotic operons (lac genetics, trp attenuation) and eukaryotic regulation including miRNA, siRNA, RNAi and other non-coding RNAs, with comparative tables, worked numerical examples and 7 original GATE-style practice questions.
21 previous-year questions · 33 marks · 7 practice questions
QUESTIONS BY TOPIC AND YEAR
75 questions, by topic and year
How many questions each topic had in the BT papers of each year. This shows what was asked, not what will be asked. We placed each question under a topic ourselves; the exam paper does not label topics. Every question links back to its paper.
| Topic | 2019 | 2020 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mendelian genetics | 2 | 2 | 1 | · | 2 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| Microbial genetics | 1 | · | · | · | · | 1 | · | 2 |
| Population & evolution | · | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | · | 1 | 11 |
| Cell biology | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 15 |
| Cell signalling | · | 3 | 1 | 2 | · | · | 1 | 7 |
| Mutation & repair | 1 | · | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 9 |
| Gene expression | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 21 |
The 2018 paper is not included. The 2021 file we host is a scan (its last three pages carry IIT Bombay's answer key), so it is not included either. The 2019 paper and its key are IIT Madras's own copies.
Genetics, Cell and Molecular Biology formulas by topic
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THE OFFICIAL SYLLABUS
What each paper lists under Genetics, Cell and Molecular Biology
From the GATE 2027 syllabus PDF: BT Section 3, “Genetics, Cellular and Molecular Biology”, in its three parts: Genetics and Evolutionary Biology, Cell Biology, and Molecular Biology.
GATE BT
Genetics and Evolutionary Biology: Mendelian inheritance; Gene interaction; Complementation; Linkage, recombination and chromosome mapping; Extra chromosomal inheritance; Microbial genetics - transformation, transduction and conjugation; Bacterial gene mapping; Horizontal gene transfer and transposable elements; Chromosomal variation; Sex Determination; Genetic disorders; Population genetics; Epigenetics; Selection and inheritance; Adaptive and neutral evolution; Genetic drift; Species and speciation. Cell Biology: Eukaryotic cell structure; Cell cycle and cell growth control; Cell-cell communication; Cell signalling and signal transduction; Non-cell autonomous cell signalling; Post-translational modifications; Protein trafficking; Cell death and autophagy; Extra-cellular matrix. Molecular Biology: Molecular structure of genes and chromosomes; Mutations and mutagenesis; Regulation of gene expression; Nucleic acid - replication, transcription, splicing, translation and their regulatory mechanisms; Non-coding and micro RNA; RNA interference; DNA damage and repair
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