Molecular Biology Concept

Written by: Farah Eid

Molecular Biology Concept Molecular biology is a branch of biology that deals with the study of the chemical compositions and biological phenomena of cellular molecules such as nucleic acids (DNA, RNA) and proteins that interact with each other inside the cell and regulate its biological functions, as proteins perform a wide range of functions and genes contain the information required to make them.

Molecular biology explains the molecular nature of genes, mutations and their expression mechanisms, and the products of their expression represented by proteins. It also studies the forms that proteins take after they are translated inside the cell and the interactions and changes that occur to them so that the protein becomes a molecule with a function and work in the cell.

Molecular Biology Study Areas

Molecular biology is concerned with the study of many cellular molecules, including the following: Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the basic genetic material in all living cells, and its location is the nucleus, and sometimes a small amount of it is found in the mitochondria, and the information contained in it is stored in the form of a code consisting of 4 nitrogenous bases, guanine G, cytosine C, adenine A, and thymine T.

These bases are linked together by ester bonds, thymine with adenine, and guanine with cytosine in two long opposing strands forming what is known as the double helix shape, which consists of 3 billion nitrogenous bases, 99% of which are shared by all people.

RNA Ribonucleic acid is a complex compound consisting of a group of nitrogenous bases similar to those found in DNA, with a slight difference in one nitrogenous base, as thymine is replaced by another nitrogenous base, which is uracil U.

Ribonucleic acid plays an important role in transferring information from DNA, which is found in the form of genes, and then converting that genetic information into proteins. RNA can also be the primary nucleic acid in some viruses, and it is found in the cell in 3 main forms as follows:

• Transfer RNA.

• Messenger RNA.

• Ribosomal RNA.

Proteins

A protein is a complex molecule consisting of a group of amino acids linked together by peptide bonds, which the cell benefits from on several levels, as it is the basic structure of enzymes, some hormones, and basic membrane receptors in the body.

• The central dogma of molecular biology describes the flow of genetic information in a cell, culminating in the formation of a protein, through two main processes:

• Copying a gene in DNA into an RNA molecule, a process called DNA transcription.

• Translating the information in messenger RNA into a protein inside the ribosome, a process called translation.

When a protein is obtained as the final product of the transcription and translation processes, the protein undergoes many changes that transform it from a simple peptide chain that is unable to perform any function, into a compound that is able to perform its function in the cell.