Related topics: cells , protein , bacteria , biochemistry



Molecular biology

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Molecular biology is the study of biology at a molecular level. The 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 DNA, RNA and protein biosynthesis as well as learning how these interactions are regulated.

Writing in Nature, 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."

For more information about Molecular biology, read the full article at Wikipedia.
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News tagged with molecular biology

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Scientists take a step towards uncovering the histone code

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 20, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 1

Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have determined the structures of two enzymes that customize histones, the spool-like proteins around which DNA coils inside the cell.


Scientists crack mystery of protein's dual function

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Dec 13, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0

Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have solved a 10-year-old mystery of how a single protein from an ancient family of enzymes can have two completely distinct roles in the body. In addition to providing guidance ...


Researchers discover biological basis of 'bacterial immune system'

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Nov 30, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Bacteria don’t have easy lives. In addition to mammalian immune systems that besiege the bugs, they have natural enemies called bacteriophages, viruses that kill half the bacteria on Earth every two days.


DNA needs a good editor: Researchers unravel the mysteries of DNA packaging

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 14, 2009 | popularity 3.4 / 5 (5) | comments 0

Imagine a huge spool of film containing thousands of sequences of random scenes. Without a talented editor, a screening would have no meaning.


Light used to map effect of neurons on one another

Light used to map effect of neurons on one another

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Dec 17, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at Harvard University have used light and genetic trickery to trace out neurons' ability to excite or inhibit one another, literally shedding new light on the question of how neurons ...


Scientists find way to catalog all that goes wrong in a cancer cell

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Dec 10, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of Princeton University scientists has produced a systematic listing of the ways a particular cancerous cell has "gone wrong," giving researchers a powerful tool that eventually could make possible ...


Precision breeding creates super potato

Precision breeding creates super potato

Biology / Biotechnology

created Dec 08, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

The skin is light brown, the meat luscious and yellow: from the outside alone, this new potato looks like any other. But on the inside, it is different. Its cells produce pure amylopectin, a starch used in ...


It takes two to infect: Structural biologists shed light on mechanism of invasion protein

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 30, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Bacteria are quite creative when infecting the human organism. They invade cells, migrate through the body, avoid an immune response and misuse processes of the host cell for their own purposes. To this end every bacterium ...


Making New Enzymes to Engineer Plants for Biofuel Production

Making New Enzymes to Engineer Plants for Biofuel Production

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Dec 21, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Brookhaven scientists have created a new enzyme with the potential to interfere with a key cell-wall component in plants, possibly leading to plants that are easier to "digest" and convert ...