Molecular biology ( /məˈlɛkjʊlər/) is the branch of biology that deals with the molecular basis of biological activity. This field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry. Molecular biology chiefly concerns itself with understanding the interactions between the various systems of a cell, including the interactions between the different types of DNA, RNA and protein biosynthesis as well as learning how these interactions are regulated.
Writing in Nature in 1961, William Astbury described molecular biology as
"...not so much a technique as an approach, an approach from the viewpoint of the so-called basic sciences with the leading idea of searching below the large-scale manifestations of classical biology for the corresponding molecular plan. It is concerned particularly with the forms of biological molecules and is predominantly three-dimensional and structural—which does not mean, however, that it is merely a refinement of morphology. It must at the same time inquire into genesis and function."Read more about Molecular Biology: Relationship To Other Biological Sciences, Techniques of Molecular Biology, History, Clinical Significance
Other articles related to "molecular biology, biology, molecular":
... Molecular biology is the study of biology at a molecular level ... This field overlaps with other areas of biology, particularly with genetics and biochemistry ... Molecular biology chiefly concerns itself with understanding the interactions between the various systems of a cell, including the interrelationship of DNA, RNA, and protein synthesis and learning how these ...
... Hanukoglu's career in molecular biology started at the Department of Biochemistry of the University of Chicago (1980-1983 with Elaine Fuchs), where he cloned and ... In later studies he applied molecular biology techniques to understand the structure and function of mitochondrial enzymes involved in steroid hormone biosynthesis ... University, Sackler Medical School and Wolfson Hospital), he studies the molecular genetics and structure and function of epithelial sodium channels (ENaC) ...
... Clinical research and medical therapies arising from molecular biology are partly covered under gene therapy ... The use of molecular biology or molecular cell biology approaches in medicine is now called molecular medicine ... Molecular biology also plays important role in understanding formations, actions, regulations of various parts of cells which can be used efficiently for targeting new drugs, diagnosis of disease, physiology of ...
... accepted today, and remains a common protocol in molecular biology labs ... Acrylamide has many other uses in molecular biology laboratories, including the use of linear polyacrylamide (LPA) as a carrier, which aids in the precipitation of small ...
... The genome is approximately 7200 bases in length, is a polyadenylated single-strand RNA molecule that contains three discontinuous and partially overlapping open reading frames (ORFs) along with 5' and 3' cis-acting elements, which have important roles in HEV replication and transcription ... ORF1 encode a methyltransferase, protease, helicase and replicase ORF2 encode the capsid protein and ORF3 encodes a protein of undefined function ...
Famous quotes containing the word biology:
“When the judge calls the criminal’s name out he stands up, and they are immediately linked by a strange biology that makes them both opposite and complementary. The one cannot exist without the other. Which is the sun and which is the shadow? It’s well known some criminals have been great men.”
—Jean Genet (1910–1986)