UPHESC Assistant Professor Botany 2025 PYQs

Concept: The Golgi apparatus is the cell's 'post office' – it modifies, packages and sorts proteins.

1. In cis → medial → trans cisternae, proteins undergo glycosylation (O-linked, trimming of N-glycans), sulfation, phosphorylation (e.g. mannose-6-phosphate tag).
2. The trans-Golgi network sorts them into vesicles bound for lysosomes/vacuoles, plasma membrane or secretion.
3. Ribosomes only translate; RER starts N-glycosylation but the main sorting station is the Golgi; peroxisomes do not sort proteins.

Short trick: Golgi = modify + pack + sort + ship.

Concept: Watson–Crick B-DNA dimensions are fixed by purine–pyrimidine pairing.

1. Diameter = 20 Å (2 nm) throughout, because every base pair is one purine + one pyrimidine.
2. One complete turn (pitch) = 34 Å with 10 base pairs; rise per base pair = 3.4 Å.
3. 60, 80 and 27 Å are not DNA dimensions.

Short trick: B-DNA: 20 Å wide, 34 Å per turn, 3.4 Å per bp.

Concept: Stability = ability to resist and recover from disturbance; it rises with size, buffering and constancy of the environment.

1. The ocean is the largest ecosystem; its huge water mass buffers temperature, salinity and gas changes.
2. Its physico-chemical conditions have remained almost constant for millions of years, and it is the least altered by man.
3. Deserts and mountains face extreme fluctuations; forests are easily disturbed by fire, felling and climate.

Short trick: Biggest + most buffered = Ocean = most stable.

Concept: India State of Forest Report (FSI) ranks states by forest-cover area.

1. Area-wise order (ISFR 2021/2023): Madhya Pradesh (≈77,000 km²) > Arunachal Pradesh > Chhattisgarh > Odisha > Maharashtra.
2. Arunachal leads only among NE states; by percentage of geographical area Mizoram/Lakshadweep lead.
3. So, of the options, Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover.

Short trick: Area – MP first; percentage – Mizoram first.

Concept: Biosphere reserves in India are set up under UNESCO's Man and Biosphere (MAB) programme.

1. Nilgiri BR (Tamil Nadu–Kerala–Karnataka) was the first, notified in 1986; also first Indian BR in the UNESCO world network (2000).
2. Nanda Devi – 1988; Nokrek – 1988; Great Nicobar – 1989.
3. India now has 18 biosphere reserves; the largest is the Gulf of Kachchh / Great Rann of Kutch.

Short trick: N for 'Number one' – Nilgiri 1986.

Concept: Energy flow is unidirectional and obeys the second law of thermodynamics.

1. At each transfer only ~10% (Lindeman) of energy passes up; the rest is lost as heat in respiration.
2. Hence energy at a higher level can never exceed that at a lower level → pyramid of energy is always upright.
3. Pyramid of numbers is inverted in a tree/parasite chain; pyramid of biomass is inverted in the sea (phytoplankton < zooplankton); parasitic food-chain pyramid is inverted.

Short trick: Energy never goes up-hill – its pyramid never turns upside-down.

Concept: William Bateson coined 'genetics' in 1905 (used publicly in 1906 at the 3rd International Conference on Hybridisation).

1. Bateson also introduced allelomorph (allele), homozygote, heterozygote, F₁/F₂ and discovered linkage/coupling-repulsion with Punnett.
2. de Vries, Correns and Tschermak rediscovered Mendel's laws in 1900; de Vries also proposed mutation theory.
3. Johannsen (1909) coined 'gene', 'genotype', 'phenotype'.

Short trick: Bateson → Genetics (1905); Johannsen → Gene (1909).

Concept: Circular dichroism (CD) measures the difference in absorption of left- and right-circularly polarised light by chiral molecules.

1. In the far-UV (190–250 nm) the peptide backbone gives characteristic spectra: α-helix – negative bands at 222 and 208 nm, positive at 193 nm; β-sheet – negative ≈218 nm; random coil – negative ≈200 nm.
2. So CD quickly estimates % helix/sheet/coil in solution.
3. Chromatography (column/TLC) only separates molecules; ordinary EM shows shape/size, not secondary structure.

Short trick: Far-UV CD: double minimum at 222 & 208 nm = α-helix; single at 218 nm = β-sheet.

Concept: A tautonym is a binomial in which the specific epithet exactly repeats the generic name.

1. Malus malus repeats the genus name → tautonym.
2. Tautonyms are not permitted under the ICN (botany) – the correct name is Malus pumila/domestica; they are allowed in zoology (e.g. Rattus rattus, Naja naja).
3. Autonym – automatically created infraspecific name repeating the species epithet (e.g. Acacia nilotica subsp. nilotica); synonym – different names for one taxon; homonym – same name for different taxa.

Short trick: Tauto = same: genus = species → tautonym.

Concept: 'Monosonic' here means monosomic – an aneuploid lacking one chromosome of a pair.

1. Monosomic = 2n − 1 (e.g. Turner syndrome 45,XO).
2. Nullisomic = 2n − 2; trisomic = 2n + 1; tetrasomic = 2n + 2 (or double trisomic 2n + 1 + 1).
3. n = haploid (monoploid in diploids) – a euploid, not aneuploid.

Short trick: Mono-somic = minus one: 2n−1; Tri-somic = plus one: 2n+1.

Concept: 15 cm (= 15 map units/cM) means 15% of her gametes are recombinant. Because she got the two dominant alleles from different parents, she carries them in repulsion (trans): C p / c P.

1. Her gametes: parental C p 42.5%, c P 42.5%; recombinant C P 7.5%, c p 7.5%.
2. Husband (c p / c p) gives only c p.
3. A child with both cataracts and polydactyly must get the recombinant C P gamete → probability = 15%/2 = 7.5%.
4. 7.5% is not among the options (42.5% is the chance of cataract alone or polydactyly alone), so as printed no option is correct – the question is treated as a bonus.

Short trick: Trans heterozygote: 'both traits' needs a crossover → RF/2.

Concept: Clamp connections maintain the dikaryotic (n + n) condition in secondary mycelium of Basidiomycetes.

1. During conjugate division of the two nuclei a hook-like clamp forms at the septum, passing one daughter nucleus into the sub-terminal cell.
2. Thus each cell keeps two genetically different nuclei – a hallmark of Basidiomycetes (e.g. Agaricus, Polyporus).
3. The analogous structure in Ascomycetes is the crozier (ascus hook) formed only before ascus formation; Deuteromycetes and Chytrids lack clamps.

Short trick: Clamp – Basidio; Crozier – Asco.

Concept: Neottia nidus-avis is the classic 'bird's nest orchid' – a non-green, mycoheterotrophic orchid.

1. nidus-avis literally means 'nest of a bird' – its mass of short, thick, interwoven roots looks like a bird's nest.
2. It lacks chlorophyll and gets food from mycorrhizal fungi (often cited as a 'saprophytic angiosperm' with Monotropa).
3. Spiranthes spiralis – autumn lady's tresses; Orchis morio – green-winged orchid; Listera ovata – common twayblade (all green).

Short trick: nidus = nest, avis = bird → Neottia nidus-avis.

Concept: In Takhtajan's Flowering Plants (2009), subclass Lamiidae runs Gentiananae → Solananae → Lamianae.

1. Order Gentianales opens with Rubiaceae, and ends with Apocynaceae (incl. Asclepiadaceae).
2. Then Solanales – Solanaceae.
3. Then Lamiales – Acanthaceae (with Lamiaceae, Verbenaceae etc.).
4. Order: Rubiaceae → Apocynaceae → Solanaceae → Acanthaceae = III, II, IV, I.

Short trick: R-A-S-A: Rubi → Apocy → Solan → Acanth.

Concept: Arrange by year of publication.

1. A. P. de Candolle – Théorie élémentaire de la botanique, 1813 (natural system).
2. Bentham & Hooker – Genera Plantarum, 1862–1883 (natural system).
3. Engler & Prantl – Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien, 1887–1915 (first phylogenetic).
4. Hutchinson – Families of Flowering Plants, 1926/1934 (revised 1959, 1973).

Short trick: D-B-E-H: de Candolle → Bentham-Hooker → Engler → Hutchinson.

Concept: Gnetum is the most angiosperm-like gymnosperm.

1. a ✔ – its shoot apex shows a distinct tunica–corpus organisation, as in angiosperms.
2. b ✔ – the female gametophyte is tetrasporic (all four megaspore nuclei take part) and free-nuclear at fertilization, like tetrasporic embryo sacs.
3. c ✔ – the embryo has two cotyledons (dicotyledonous).
4. d ✘ – the zygote of Gnetum does not undergo free-nuclear division (it forms suspensor tubes directly), and angiosperm zygotes do not either; free-nuclear proembryo is a feature of other gymnosperms (Cycas, Pinus, Ephedra).

Short trick: Gnetum: vessels, tunica-corpus, tetrasporic, 2 cotyledons, no free-nuclear proembryo.

Concept: Leaf-lamina terms are of separate kinds: shape, margin, apex, base.

1. Shape: acicular (needle-like, Pinus), oblanceolate (lance-shaped, broadest above middle), ovate (egg-shaped, broadest below middle).
2. Margin: entire (smooth, Mangifera) and serrate (saw-toothed, Rosa, Hibiscus).
3. So a, b, c describe shape; d and e describe margin.

Short trick: Shape = outline (acicular, ovate…); Margin = edge (entire, serrate…).

Concept: Vavilov (1926, 1951) recognised 8 main centres (with sub-centres) and counted the crop species originating in each.

1. Indian (Hindustan) centre with its Indo-Malayan sub-centre: 117 + 55 = 172 species (rice, sugarcane, banana, citrus, mango, pulses…).
2. Mediterranean ≈ 84, Near East (Asia Minor) ≈ 83, South American (Peru-Ecuador-Bolivia + Chiloe + Brazil-Paraguay) ≈ 79.
3. Only the Chinese centre (136) is comparable, and it is not an option – so the Indo-Malay centre has the greatest diversity among these.

Short trick: Vavilov ranking: China & India–Indo-Malaya top the list.

Concept: Arrange the landmark discoveries chronologically.

1. Leeuwenhoek – polyembryony in Citrus seeds, 1719.
2. Strasburger – syngamy (male gamete fusing with egg) in angiosperms, 1884.
3. Nawaschin – double fertilization in Lilium and Fritillaria, 1898 (Guignard independently 1899).
4. Guha & Maheshwari – haploid plants from anther culture of Datura innoxia, 1964.

Short trick: 1719 → 1884 → 1898 → 1964: L-S-N-G.

Concept: CV = (SD ÷ mean) × 100.

1. CV = (4 ÷ 20) × 100
2. = 0.2 × 100 = 20%.

Short trick: Divide SD by mean, then ×100.