Before considering the methods of molecular biology, it is necessary to understand and realize at least in the most general terms what molecular biology itself is and what it studies. And for this you will have to dig even deeper and deal with the euphonious concept of "genetic information". And also remember what a cell, nucleus, proteins and deoxyribonucleic acid are.
What is what, or basic knowledge
All people who took a basic biology course at school should know that the body of every person and animal consists of organs, muscles and bones. And those are formed from various tissues, which in turn are formed from cells.
Shell, cytoplasm, various proteins and the nucleus are the main components of the most ordinary cell. But the information about exactly how proteins are built and function is located in the nucleus, and to be more precise, in the deoxyribonucleicacid. It is in the world famous DNA strand that the data on how proteins should work are stored and stored. All further development of the organism depends on the correct construction of deoxyribonucleic acid. From the point of view of biologists, nothing is more important. We can say that the whole life of a person depends on a billion of the smallest accidents that could change his genome.
Molecular biology is just the same and studies the processes that occur in cells: how data is transferred from deoxyribonucleic acid to proteins, how they initially get there, what are the main functions of proteins, how they are formed.
Since the twenties of the twentieth century, molecular biology has been actively developing. The world's leading scientists have dedicated their lives to the study of deoxyribonucleic acid and the workings of proteins. Many mind-boggling discoveries have been made. For example, the scientist Francis Crick on the eve of the sixties formulated the Central Dogma of molecular biology. The essence of this law is that genetic data moves from deoxyribonucleic acid to ribonucleic acid, and from there to protein. But the process cannot go in the opposite direction.
It was only closer to the beginning of the twenty-first century that the formation of the main methods of molecular biology began. Thanks to this, a real breakthrough occurred in science: scientists found out how and from what deoxyribonucleic acid is formed. Biology and chemistry have never been the same again.
Molecular biology methods
There are basicways to change deoxyribonucleic and ribonucleic acids, as well as manipulations with proteins. The whole point of the principles and methods of biochemistry and molecular biology is to find out something new about DNA and proteins.
The first method. Cut
For the first time, scientists fully realized that they could change the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid back in the distant fifties of the twentieth century, when they discovered a very special enzyme. Nobel laureates Smith, Nathans and Arber, who isolated and used this protein in 1978, dubbed it restriction enzyme. Such a rather harsh name was chosen because this enzyme had an incredible ability: it could literally cut through deoxyribonucleic acid.
Second method. Connect
Quite often, the methods of molecular biology are not used alone, but in pairs with each other. The first two methods from this list can serve as an example here. The goal of biological scientists is not so much to isolate the deoxyribonucleic acid molecule as to create a new molecule. This mission is indispensable without another enzyme: DNA ligase. It is able to connect chains of deoxyribonucleic acid to each other. Moreover, the chains can belong to cells of completely different types, and this will not affect anything.
Third method. Divide
It often happens that deoxyribonucleic acid molecules have different lengths. So that this does not interfere with the work of scientists, they are divided withusing the phenomenon of electrophoresis. A deoxyribonucleic acid molecule is immersed in a certain substance, and it itself is immersed in an electric field, under the influence of which separation occurs.
The fourth method. Recognize the essence
Methods of biochemistry and molecular biology are different. Often their goal is not to change genes, but to study them. In order to reveal the essence of DNA, hybridization of nucleic acids is used. The experiment itself goes like this: first, deoxyribonucleic acid is heated. Because of this, the chains are disconnected. The process must be repeated twice with two different deoxyribonucleic acids. Then they are combined with each other, and finally the mixture is cooled. Depending on how fast or slow hybridization occurs, scientists figure out how the deoxyribonucleic acid chain itself is formulated.
The fifth method. Clone
Molecular biology research methods are always interrelated, but especially in this case, because in fact cloning is a combination of all previous methods of working with genes. First, you need to split the deoxyribonucleic acid into parts. Next, bacteria are grown in a test tube, and the resulting chains multiply in them.
Sixth method. Define
Back in the fifties of the twentieth century, a biologist from Sweden, Per Victor Edman, came up with a method. With it, it was possible to easily recognize the sequence of amino acids in a protein without much effort.
Seventhmethod. Modify
The principles and methods of molecular biology are mainly based on working with cells. The fact is that with the help of the so-called gene gun, a scientist can inject deoxyribonucleic acid into the cells of plants, animals and humans. Thus, cells change, acquire new qualities and functions. The nucleus and other organelles are drastically modified through this experiment.
The eighth method. Explore
Genes, which are called reporter genes, can be attached to other genes and with the help of this rather simple action, to study what is happening inside the cells. Also, this method is used in order to find out how clearly genes are manifested in a cell. The LacZ gene usually plays the role of a reporter.
Ninth method. Discover
In order to isolate a certain gene among others, scientists introduce horseradish peroxidase into the cell. There it combines with a molecule and transmits a strong enough signal that allows the scientist to determine the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the cell.
Conclusion
In our time, science is extremely actively moving forward. Especially in the field of biology. New functions and types of cells, completely new methods of molecular biology are being discovered. It is possible that the future will depend on these discoveries. And these discoveries, in turn, depend on modern methods of molecular biology.
