Class 12 Biology

Flower structure, microsporogenesis, the embryo sac, pollination, double fertilisation and post-fertilisation development, with apomixis and polyembryony.

The male and female reproductive systems, spermatogenesis and oogenesis, the menstrual cycle, fertilisation, implantation, pregnancy, parturition and lactation.

Reproductive health and the problems that affect it, population stabilisation and birth control methods from natural methods to surgery, medical termination of pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, infertility and assisted reproductive technologies.

Mendel's laws and the inheritance of one and two genes, incomplete dominance, co-dominance and multiple alleles, linkage and recombination, sex determination, mutation, and the Mendelian and chromosomal genetic disorders.

The structure of DNA and its packaging, the experiments that proved DNA is the genetic material, replication, transcription, the genetic code, translation, regulation of gene expression, the Human Genome Project and DNA fingerprinting.

The origin of life, evidences for evolution, adaptive radiation and natural selection, the Hardy-Weinberg principle, the geological story of life and the origin and evolution of man.

The pathogens that cause the common human diseases and how they spread, the body's innate and acquired immunity with antibodies and lymphoid organs, AIDS and cancer, and the drugs and alcohol that damage health.

Microbes in everyday foods, industrial products and medicines, sewage treatment and biogas, and their use as biocontrol agents and biofertilisers, with board-pattern practice.

The principles behind genetic engineering, the tools of recombinant DNA technology (restriction enzymes, vectors, competent hosts), the full process from DNA isolation to downstream processing, and board-pattern practice.

Applications of biotechnology in agriculture (tissue culture, Bt crops, RNAi), in medicine (insulin, gene therapy, molecular diagnosis), transgenic animals, and the ethical questions around patents and biopiracy.

Population attributes and density, the four processes that change numbers, exponential and logistic growth, life history strategies, and the whole range of population interactions from predation to mutualism.

Ecosystem structure and function, productivity, the steps of decomposition, energy flow through trophic levels, and ecological pyramids with their uses and limitations.

The three levels of biodiversity, how many species exist and where, patterns such as the latitudinal gradient and species-area relationship, the loss of biodiversity and its causes, and the two approaches to conservation.