Molecular genetics

Molecular genetics studies genes and heredity through the molecules that store, express, and transmit genetic information, especially DNA and RNA.

DNA replication: The process by which a cell copies its DNA before division. Replication passes genetic information to daughter cells and organisms.
DNA: A molecule that stores hereditary information in a sequence of nucleotides. DNA is the principal long-term information-bearing molecule studied in molecular genetics.
Gregor Mendel: The nineteenth-century researcher whose pea-plant experiments established foundational principles of inheritance. Mendelian inheritance supplied patterns that molecular genetics later explained mechanistically.
Polymerase chain reaction: A laboratory method that amplifies selected DNA sequences through repeated cycles of copying. PCR makes small amounts of genetic material easier to analyze.
Central dogma of molecular biology: A framework describing the usual flow of sequence information from DNA to RNA to protein. It organized molecular genetics around information transfer while leaving room for exceptions.
Transcription: The synthesis of RNA from a DNA template. Transcription is the first step in expressing many genes.
RNA: A nucleic acid that functions in gene expression, regulation, and other cellular processes. RNA carries, interprets, and regulates genetic information in many pathways.
Frederick Griffith: The bacteriologist whose 1928 experiments revealed a heritable transforming principle in bacteria. His transformation experiments opened a route to identifying the chemical basis of heredity.
DNA sequencing: Methods for determining the order of nucleotides in a DNA molecule. Sequencing reveals variants and gene structures directly from DNA.
Human Genome Project: An international research effort that produced a reference sequence of the human genome. Its sequence resource expanded the scale and scope of genetic research.

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