Atilla Duyar / Nico Laur / Severin Gylstorff
The field of molecular biology is a central area of modern life sciences, focusing on the fundamental molecular mechanisms that enable and govern life. It involves studying the structure, function, and interaction of biological molecules such as DNA, RNA, and proteins to unravel the complex processes occurring in every living cell. The origins of molecular biology lie in the mid-20th century when scientists first discovered the chemical nature of genetic information and its molecular transmission pathways. One of the most significant scientific achievements was the discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953, based on the groundbreaking X-ray crystallography analyses of Rosalind Franklin. This discovery laid the foundation for understanding genetic coding and the mechanisms of replication and transcription. The central hypothesis of molecular biology, also known as the 'central dogma,' describes the flow of genetic information from DNA to RNA to proteins.
