Molecular biology, is a mixture of fields.
Molecular biology has drawn its origins from our ability to look at the chemical level, of genetics for, an assortment of species.
What do molecular biologists do.
There are varied occupations for molecular biologists.
The first molecular biologists were geneticists and physicists.
Or more particularly, the field has been dominated, by geneticists who have decided to look at individual species, and see exactly how they work.
From the subatomic, to the la- macro molecular level.
And, when I say macro molecular, large molecules, like protein, and D-N-A and large complex sugars, like carbohydrates.
The first molecular biologists were geneticists who wanted to know, how do we get from a simple D-N-A molecule, to a complex animal, like a frog for instance.
Most modern day molecular biologists have moved beyond these very basic genetic questions.
And, moved to studying how the individual component, of the, intracellular machinery of a complex organism, interact with each other.
And how they cause the organism to function.
How are the genes within the organism turned on and off.
How is the internal cellular physiology of the organism regulated by the movement of proteins, and the interaction of proteins within the given cell.
Most biologists_ most molecular biologists study this on a day-to-day basis.
They use varied techniques to manipulate the D-N-A of small organisms from as small as, yeast and bacterium, to animals even as large as frogs and mice.
The intent, is to look at how a- adult organism functions and these are the primary concerns of the molecular geneticist.
Another field of molecular biology, is referred to as developmental biology.
The (sou- the) soul purpose of developmental biology is to look at the development of a unicellular egg, um, into a complex organism.
Um, such as a ra- a newborn mouse.
How do we develop in the uterus.
The focus of developmental biology is to look at how, genes are turned on and off.
And how, they therefore regulate the development of (niche) and structures within, uh, within organisms in, within, uh, the womb.
How do we developed_ how do we develop five digits instead of six.
Why are our eyes i- in the middle of our heads rather than, lets say, uh, on opposite ends of our shoulders.
How do these things happen.
Because the simple linear genetic code of D-N-A spatially regulate the development of organs in three dimensions is_ may seem like questions, better given to a mathematician.
Possibly better given to a physicist.
But, despite the seeming move from, linear D-N-A information, to three-dimensional beings, can actually be very easily explained, using the modern techniques of molecular biology.
Yet another field, involves biochemistry.
Biochemistry has been used to identify, uh, mainly the structures of organisms and particularly the structures of small macro molecules.
This sub field of biochemistry would be referred to as, structural biology.
Structural biology finds its purpose, in looking at how proteins, though seemingly all the same, from a macro molecular standpoint are very very complicated.
And, their structure determines their function.
Their main_ and this structure and function inter relationship, is the principle dogma of structural biology.
The way in which portions of our protein when seen at the atomic level, a very very complicated structure.
How these mechanisms interact with one another, can give us an explanation.
How these proteins can act as enzymes, for instance.
How do certain portions of the protein act as arms, to potentially grasp a small chemical.
And then yet, another portion of a protein, become involved in manipulating that chemical once it is in the grasp of the protein itself.
The such_ structural biologist have also been interested in how D-N-A consider just a very linear molecule, as twists and kinks, curves, structure, um, in three dimensions.
And how it, through using, through changes in its structure, changes in its three dimensional structure can interact with proteins, and how this is key, uh, to the regulation of physiology within the cell.
And within the simple organism in macro scope_ in macro.
The structural biologist has become more and more important, as more and more companies, and more and more universities become interested in manipulation through the use of small chemicals.
And, through engineering of D-N-A, through not merely restriction enzymes which are used to cleave the D-N-A, and manipulate it physically.
But also, through use of small chemicals, they can intrude into the D-N-A, and change the way it behaves, at a physical level.
The need to be able to look at these molecules at an atomic level, is incredibly important.
Yet another field within biochemistry aside from structural biology, is virology.
One is extremely concerned, as to how viruses not only look_ these items being addressed by both structural biologists and virologists, but also how they behave.
Uh, a vir- a virus is not a living organism.
It depends solely upon the physiology of the organism that it infects, to replicate itself to make copies of itself, to have its own physiology unquote.
Without a host organism, a virus is just a lump of protein, of a little bit of D-N-A.
But once its actually associated with an organism, it's animated.
So viruses have achieved a semi-living, uh, status within biology.
Are they really alive.
Are they really organism, in and of themselves.
Are they symbiotes.
Which are sy_ are organisms that depend on other organisms to survive.
What are they.
And this debate has raged, and is a large amount of the study of viruses.
They want to be able to understand how the virus does what it does within an organism, and how it causes disease.
These are just a few of the fields, uh, within molecular biology.
All of them separate, in there, fiefdoms as is true in any university.
But, yet, at the same time, all integrated in a common cause of understanding a life on this planet.