General Biology: Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology: notes and questions
For BT students
General Biology, also known as General Biology: Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology. Notes for each topic, a formula sheet, practice questions and 63 past GATE questions from 7 papers (2019–2026), 60 of them solved step by step.
- previous-year questions
- 63previous-year questions
- solved step by step
- 60solved step by step
- GATE papers, 2019–2026
- 7GATE papers, 2019–2026
- topics with notes
- 7topics with notes
Foundation
Learn the subject one topic at a time. Each topic has notes, the key formulas and practice questions.
Topic notes and formulas
Notes on every topic, with the key formulas and practice.
Biomolecules and biological membranes
This topic covers the structure and function of the four classes of biomolecules (amino acids and proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids) and how biological membranes control what crosses them.
6 practice questions
Metabolism: pathways, photosynthesis and respiration
Metabolism is how cells extract, store and spend energy.
6 practice questions
Enzymes: classification, catalysis, kinetics and inhibition
Enzymes are biological catalysts, mostly proteins, that speed up reactions by stabilising the transition state without changing the equilibrium.
5 practice questions
Bacterial classification, cell walls, growth and nutrition
This topic covers how bacteria and archaea are classified and told apart, how their cell walls and the Gram stain work, how microbiologists sterilise, culture, observe and count cells, and how populations grow and obtain nutrients.
6 practice questions
Operons, nitrogen fixation, pathogens, antibiotics and viruses
This topic covers how bacteria switch genes on and off (lac, trp and ara operons), how nitrogen is fixed, how microbes cause disease, how antibiotics work and resistance arises, how cells sense signals (two-component systems, quorum sensing), and how viruses are built and classified.
6 practice questions
Immune system: lymphoid organs, innate immunity, complement and antibodies
The immune system is organised into primary and secondary lymphoid organs.
5 practice questions
T and B cells, MHC, antigen presentation and immune regulation
This topic covers how T and B lymphocytes develop and are selected, how MHC molecules present peptides to T cells, and how the immune response is switched on, remembered, limited and sometimes misdirected (hypersensitivity, autoimmunity, immunodeficiency, graft rejection).
5 practice questions
General Biology: Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology formulas by topic
GATE
Past GATE questions on General Biology by topic and year, the full papers, practice and the GATE syllabus.
63 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.
| Topic | 2019 | 2020 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biomolecules | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 12 |
| Metabolism | · | 4 | 1 | · | 2 | 3 | 3 | 13 |
| Enzymes | 1 | 1 | · | · | · | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Microbiology | · | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 8 |
| Pathogens & antibiotics | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | · | 1 | 11 |
| Immune system | 1 | 1 | 1 | · | 2 | · | 1 | 6 |
| Adaptive immunity | · | 1 | · | 4 | · | 2 | · | 7 |
Solved papers
The 2019 paper and its key are IIT Madras's own copies.
39 practice questions
The GATE syllabus for General Biology, paper by paper
From the GATE 2027 syllabus PDF: BT Section 2, “General Biology”, in its three parts: Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology. Section 4 prints Michaelis-Menten kinetics and enzyme inhibition again, under Bioreaction Engineering.
Show the GATE BT wordingHide the GATE BT wording
Biochemistry: Biomolecules - structure and function; Biological membranes - structure, membrane channels and pumps, molecular motors, action potential and transport processes; Basic concepts and regulation of metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids, amino acids and nucleic acids; Metabolism: Regulation of metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids, amino acids, and nucleic acids; Detailed pathways like glycolysis, citric acid cycle, and fatty acid oxidation; Photosynthesis, respiration and electron transport chain; Enzymes - Classification, catalytic and regulatory strategies; Enzyme kinetics - Michaelis-Menten equation; Enzyme inhibition - competitive, non- competitive and uncompetitive inhibition. Microbiology: History of Microbiology, Bacterial classification and diversity; Bacterial cell wall composition, Gram positive and Gram-negative bacteria, Archea, Methods in microbiology; Microbial growth and nutrition; Operon- Lac, Trp and Ara operon, Nitrogen fixation; Microbial diseases and host-pathogen interactions; Antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance, Two-component system ( TCS), bacterial communication, Viruses - structure and classification. Immunology: Primary and Secondary lymphoid organs; Innate immunity and Inflammation; Cytokines and Chemokines; Complement system; Effector responses: Cellular and Humoral Immunity; Molecular basis of Antibody diversity and function; Polyclonal and Monoclonal antibodies; T-cell and B-cell development; Memory responses; Major Histocompatibility complex (MHC); Antigen processing and presentation; Regulation of immune responses; Immune tolerance; Hypersensitivity; Autoimmunity and Immunodeficiency; Graft vs Host disease; Immunization and vaccines.
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