By Ella Kang
Molecular Biology refers to the branch of biology that studies the molecular basis of all biological activities. Because living things are made of chemicals just like other non-living things, molecular biologists are able to look into the interactions in living organisms that fulfill the functions of life. Movements in and between cells- molecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions are just a few examples of what the biologists study in this area. They also perform experiments to observe and analyze the structure, function, processing, regulation, and evolution of biological molecules, providing an insight into how life works.
Although the term molecular biology existed since the 1930s, it wasn’t until 1938 that it actually came into use by Warren Weaver, an American scientist who served as an important figure in creating support for science in the United States. As the director of Natural Sciences for the Rockefeller Foundation, Weaver believed that biology would completely change due to recent advancements in technology such as X-ray crystallography. Then, molecular biology came to light as an opportunity to get an answer to mechanisms of genetic inheritance and the structure of a gene.
The field of molecular biology intersects with many other science fields, and particularly, genetics and biochemistry. The three sciences all relate to how organisms work at the molecular level, but it should be noted that each concerns different areas and makes use of specific techniques. Researchers, though, still practice combined techniques and methods to reach an effective conclusion.
Most work of molecular biology occurs in the laboratory. Therefore, a lot of techniques have been developed: inducing molecular cloning, polymerase, chain reaction, gel electrophoresis, blotting and probing, microarrays, and allele-specific oligonucleotide. The extensive use of those techniques eases the collection, isolation, and quantification of molecules in question. Moreover, the use of computer modeling is extremely important in this field.
While it varies for each kind, the major focus in molecular biology is the proteins that perform a huge range of functions within cells, and the genes that contain enormous information to produce more proteins. In detail, molecular biologists explore the molecular mechanisms behind natural processes like replication, transcription, translation, and cell function. They work to recognize and understand each step of the biological process, like how proteins regulate and impact each other and respond to signals from genes and from outside the cell. Furthermore, the study can understand how the ways the structure of a molecule, as well as the details of its location and shape affect functions of the molecules. Understanding those processes would be a key learning to the comprehensive answers to how organisms live and work. Further, it would allow other scientists to manipulate the biology and other areas of science.
Above all, molecular biology is a large and growing field that still has a lot of progress to be made. With this recent discovery in mind, future advances in techniques, medicine, and other areas will allow us to address more issues in sciences.
Works Cited
“Molecular Biology.” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, www.sciencedaily.com/terms/molecular_biology.htm.
Tabery, James, et al. “Molecular Biology.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 27 June 2019, https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2019/entries/molecular-biology/.
“What Is Molecular Biology?: Thermo Fisher Scientific.” Ask a Scientist, Thermo Fisher Scientific, 29 Dec. 2020, www.thermofisher.com/blog/ask-a-scientist/what-is-molecular-biology/.
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