If you don’t know “What is molecular biology” then you should know it is a division of biology that deals with the study of biological components and their interactions besides a collection of processes that are developed because the genesis of the field has authorized scientists to learn a lot about the processes of molecules. Living things are created from chemicals similar to non-living things. Hence, a molecular biologist studies the method in which a molecule does have an interaction with one another for performing various functions of life.
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Molecular biologists conduct various experiments for investigating the function, structure, regulation, processing, and evolution of various biological molecules besides their interactions with each other. Hence, they propose micro-level perception into the working of life.
Though there are present various types of molecules in living things, the majority of molecular biologists concentrate on proteins and genes. Proteins are useful for performing a huge array of functions that happen within a living cell, whereas molecular biology of the gene comprises the info that is needed for making more proteins. This way, molecular biologists study the molecular biology of the gene.
Though molecular biology is hugely important in the modern-day life sciences, it has got its roots in the 1930s and 1940s, and it had turned institutionalized during the 1950s and 1960s too. Hence, it does not seem surprising that numerous philosophical matters that are involved in molecular biology happen to be closely entangled with recent history. There are four aspects of the development of molecular biology, and they are:
Its origins
Its classical era
Its migration into different domains of biology
Its turn to genomics as well as post-genomics
The central dogma describes the method by which DNA gets recorded into RNA. After this, it is translated into protein. To understand the functions, structures, and internal controls that happen in individual cells, you need to understand molecular biology well. These processes are important to target new drugs, diagnose disease, and understand cell physiology efficiently.
A few medical therapies, as well as clinical research that arise from molecular biology, get encompassed under gene therapy. However, the utilization of molecular cell biology or molecular biology in medicine is known as molecular medicine.
The central dogma explains that when the info has entered into protein, it fails to get out from it. To put it in detail, it is the transportation of info to nucleic acid from a nucleic acid or to protein from the nucleic acid. However, transfer to nucleic acid from protein or to protein from protein is impossible. The info means the exact determination of the series.
Molecular biology is the area of biology that is related to the method of gene transcription for yielding RNA and change of RNA into proteins. Some techniques that are utilized in molecular biology are:
PCR or Polymerase Chain Reaction - It is one of the highly vital techniques that are utilized in molecular biology. PCR permits only one DNA sequence to get amplified into countless DNA molecules. It is also useful for introducing mutations in the DNA or making familiar restriction enzyme areas. PCR is also useful for determining whether or not a specific fragment does exist in some cDNA libraries. Some kinds of PCR comprise RT-PCR (reverse transcription PCR) and quantitative PCR or QPCR.
Expression Cloning - Expression cloning is helpful to scientists in understanding the functions of the protein. The DNA which codes for a specific protein gets copied or cloned through the use of PCR into some expression vector known as a plasmid.
Macromolecule Blotting & Probing - Some processes, like northern blotting, Southern blotting, eastern blotting, and western blotting, are useful for transferring RNA or DNA proteins into a blotting membrane.
Gel Electrophoresis - Gel electrophoresis is another vital technique that is utilized in molecular biology. This is used for separating proteins, RNA, and DNA according to their sizes by applying some electric field because the DNA is run via agarose gel.
Arrays - A DNA chip is considered an accumulation of many DNA spots that are mounted on some solid surface, like a microscope slide. It is utilized for quantifying the levels of protein expression all across many numbers of genes. This process is also utilized for genotyping different genomic regions.
Thus, the article has covered all the important information related to molecular biology for you to understand the topic better.
1. Define Molecular Biology
Ans: Molecular biology is a specialized branch of Biology and Biochemistry, which are specifically concerned with the study of various biological activities at the molecular level.
Molecular biology includes different biomolecules like the AminoAcids, Nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids, along with their compositions, interactions, structure, and functions in the life processes.
The term “Molecular Biology” was coined by an American scientist, Warren Weaver in the year 1938. As per the records, the discovery of molecular biology began in the early 1940s and its fundamental development took place in the year 1953, during the invention of the structure of the DNA molecule by the two molecular biologists named James Watson and Francis Crick.
2. What is Molecular Biology studied to understand?
Ans: It is also used to study and understand:
The Molecular pathways within the cells
How living things interact with the populations?
How Proteins and nucleic acids interact with the biomolecules?