GRE Subject Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology was a standardized exam provided by ETS (Educational Testing Service) that was discontinued in December 2016.
ETS sends a bulletin with a sample practice test to each candidate after registration for the exam.
A sampling of test item content is given below:[2] A Chemical and Physical Foundations Thermodynamics and kinetics Redox states Water, pH, acid-base reactions and buffers Solutions and equilibria Solute-solvent interactions Chemical interactions and bonding Chemical reaction mechanisms B Structural Biology: Structure, Assembly, Organization and Dynamics Small molecules Macromolecules (e.g., nucleic acids, polysaccharides, proteins and complex lipids) Supramolecular complexes (e.g., membranes, ribosomes and multienzyme complexes) C Catalysis and Binding Enzyme reaction mechanisms and kinetics Ligand-protein interaction (e.g., hormone receptors, substrates and effectors, transport proteins and antigen-antibody interactions) D Major Metabolic Pathways Carbon, nitrogen and sulfur assimilation Anabolism Catabolism Synthesis and degradation of macromolecules E Bioenergetics (including respiration and photosynthesis) Energy transformations at the substrate level Electron transport Proton and chemical gradients Energy coupling (e.g., phosphorylation and transport) F Regulation and Integration of Metabolism Covalent modification of enzymes Allosteric regulation Compartmentalization Hormones G Methods Biophysical approaches (e.g., spectroscopy, x-ray, crystallography, mass spectroscopy) Isotopes Separation techniques (e.g., centrifugation, chromatography and electrophoresis) Immunotechniques Methods of importance to cellular biology, such as fluorescence probes (e.g., FRAP, FRET and GFP) and imaging, will be covered as appropriate within the context of the content below.
Cell Surface and Communication Extracellular matrix (including cell walls) Cell adhesion and junctions Signal transduction Receptor function Excitable membrane systems C. Cytoskeleton, Motility and Shape Regulation of assembly and disassembly of filament systems Motor function, regulation and diversity D. Protein, Processing, Targeting and Turnover Translocation across membranes Posttranslational modification Intracellular trafficking Secretion and endocytosis Protein turnover (e.g., proteosomes, lysosomes, damaged protein response) E. Cell Division, Differentiation and Development Cell cycle, mitosis and cytokinesis Meiosis and gametogenesis Fertilization and early embryonic development (including positional information, homeotic genes, tissue-specific expression, nuclear and cytoplasmic interactions, growth factors and induction, environment, stem cells and polarity) A.
Genetic Foundations Mendelian and non-Mendelian inheritance Transformation, transduction and conjugation Recombination and complementation Mutational analysis Genetic mapping and linkage analysis B. Chromatin and Chromosomes Karyotypes Translocations, inversions, deletions and duplications Aneuploidy and polyploidy Structure Epigenetics C. Genomics Genome structure Physical mapping Repeated DNA and gene families Gene identification Transposable elements Bioinformatics Proteomics Molecular evolution D. Genome Maintenance DNA replication DNA damage and repair DNA modification DNA recombination and gene conversion E. Gene Expression/Recombinant DNA Technology The genetic code Transcription/transcriptional profiling RNA processing Translation F. Gene Regulation Positive and negative control of the operon Promoter recognition by RNA polymerases Attenuation and antitermination Cis-acting regulatory elements Trans-acting regulatory factors Gene rearrangements and amplifications Small non-coding RNA (e.g., siRNA, microRNA) G. Viruses Genome replication and regulation Virus assembly Virus-host interactions H. Methods Restriction maps and PCR Nucleic acid blotting and hybridization DNA cloning in prokaryotes and eukaryotes Sequencing and analysis Protein-nucleic acid interaction Transgenic organisms Microarrays