Molecular biology

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Molecular biology is a field of biology that focuses on the molecular level. It overlaps with chemistry, genetics and biochemistry mainly. It studies mainly the cellular systems interactions as well as DNA, RNA and protein synthesis. It is also concerned with understanding how these reactions occur.

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Relationship to other biological sciences

There are several specific techniques that are used in the study of molecular biology. These are now being combined with technologies from different branches such as biochemistry, genetics and biophysics. The study of biochemistry focuses on the chemical substances and essential processes that take place in living things. Genetics concerns itself with the study of genetic differences in organisms and the effects of these differences. Molecular biology studies the molecular levels of the processes occurring in cells such as replication, transcription and translation of genetic material. Relationships have also been established to computational biology, bioinformatics and cell biology in addition to many other branches of biology.

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Techniques

The techniques in molecular biology have developed and are now able to isolate the molecular components of cells. Some of the components that have been isolated and manipulated include DNA, RNA and proteins.

Some of the methods used in molecular biology are:

  • Expression cloning – This is used to study protein function. This technique clones the DNA coding for the protein into a plasmid where the protein is produced and can then be extracted and analyzed.
  • Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) – This is a technique that copies DNA for study.
  • Gel electrophoresis – This separates DNA, RNA and proteins using an electrical field.
  • Southern blotting – This determines molecular weight and relative amounts of the DNA sequence under study.
  • Western blotting and immunochemistry – This involves techniques that produce antibodies and expose them to proteins where they can be imaged using techniques such as radioactivity. The antibodies can also be used to purify proteins for study.
  • Northern blotting – This is used to examine expression pathways of specific RNA molecules in comparison to different types.
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