Molecular biology is the study of molecules within the cell, and biotechnology is the application of information about how biological systems function to make useful goods such as pharmaceuticals. Molecular biology and biotechnology are two distinct fields of study. Students who complete this programme will get an understanding of the cutting-edge of modern scientific research, including how molecules like DNA, RNA, and proteins influence the fundamental processes of biological life.
William Astbury, a physicist at the University of Cambridge, coined the term “molecular biology” in 1945. As a result, the development in the field of molecular biology occurred relatively late in order to recognise that a complex system or advantageous approach would be made in a straightforward manner of understanding by using bacteria and bacteriophages, this organism yields information about basic biological processes more readily than an animal cell. A double helix model of DNA was proposed in 1953 by two young men named Francis Crick and James Watson while working at the Medical Research Council unit, Cavendish laboratory, Cambridge (now known as the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology). The model was based on previous research done by Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins, and it changed the entire landscape of genetic research. The research led to the discovery of DNA material in other microorganisms as well as plants and animals.
Molecular biology : An overview
In the field of biotechnology, which is based on the unique properties of biological molecules, cells, and organisms, new methods of diagnosing disease, producing antibiotics, pharmaceuticals, and chemical feedstocks for industrial processes, reducing environmental contamination from industrial processes, and improving food safety have all been developed in recent years.
Microbiology, biochemistry, and genetics are all studied in depth as part of the biotechnology programme at Aberdeen. A thorough understanding of all three subjects is essential in a field where microorganisms are frequently genetically engineered to perform novel or enhanced biochemical reactions. This knowledge will become even more important as synthetic biology is increasingly used throughout biotechnological processes.
There is enormous potential for biotechnology to produce new health goods, new fuels like hydrogen, breakthroughs in agriculture, and improved environmental management (e.g., oil spill clean-up) yet this promise is only partially being realised at the moment. Biotechnology is well positioned to make a big contribution to future sustainable technology development in the coming years.
Molecular biology, as we near the middle of the twentieth century, is entering a golden age characterised by rapid advancements in both vertical and horizontal technical progress. Biological processes are being monitored in real time at the atomic level thanks to revolutionary technologies that are being developed vertically.
Molecular biologists today have access to increasingly affordable sequencing data at increasingly higher depths, which is helping the creation of novel genetic manipulation approaches in new non-model animals and reducing the cost of research. The introduction of external metabolic pathways into various prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell lines will also be used to drive the industrial manufacture of small and macromolecules by synthetic molecular biologists.
History of molecular biology
In molecular biology, the term “information language” is frequently used. Genes, which are linear DNA sequences of nucleotides, are considered to hold “information” for the synthesis of proteins, which is why they are called genes. Protein synthesis occurs when information is “transcribed” from DNA to messenger RNA and then “translated” from RNA to protein, a process known as translation.
When it comes to heredity, it is frequently stated that what is transferred from one generation to the next is the “information” contained in the genes, which is the linear ordering of bases along complementary DNA strands, or the genetic code. Since the emergence of molecular biology, historians of biology have been tracking the establishment of information-talk in the field (Kay 2000).
Geneticists find and explain through detecting and elucidating systems such as DNA replication, protein synthesis, and the numerous mechanisms that regulate gene expression. Because diagrams of mechanisms represent universal knowledge in the subject, the phrase “theory of molecular biology” was not used in the preceding paragraph, and for good reason (Machamer, Darden, and Craver 2000; Darden 2006a, 2006b; Craver and Darden 2013; Baetu 2017).
For a variety of reasons, discovering the mechanism that causes an event is a significant accomplishment. First and foremost, knowledge of a mechanism demonstrates how something works: mechanisms that have been clarified provide comprehension. Second, understanding how a mechanism operates enables for the development of predictions based on the regularity of processes.
Example: Understanding the way that the mechanism of DNA base pairing works in one species helps you to make predictions about how it will operate in other species, even if the conditions or inputs are different. Example: Third, knowledge of mechanisms may enable one to act in order to alter the output of the mechanism, to manipulate its components in order to develop experimental tools, or to fix a malfunctioning or diseased mechanism in the future. Briefly stated, knowledge of clarified mechanisms aids in the comprehension, prediction, and control of events. In light of the overall significance of mechanisms and the fact that mechanisms play such an important role in the field of molecular biology, it is not surprising that philosophers of biology were the first to analyse the idea of mechanism in its original formulation.
Conclusion
It is the discipline of molecular biology that investigates macromolecules and the macromolecular mechanisms present in living things, such as the molecular nature of genes and their mechanisms of replication, mutation, and expression. The field of molecular biology is divided into three subfields. Since these macromolecular mechanisms have played such a fundamental role throughout the history of molecular biology, a philosophical focus on the concept of a mechanism produces the clearest picture of molecular biology’s history, concepts, and case studies that philosophers of science have been able to employ.