molecular biology

molecular biology

noun

Definition of MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

: a branch of biology dealing with the ultimate physicochemical organization of living matter and especially with the molecular basis of inheritance and protein synthesis

— molecular biologist noun

First Known Use of MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

1938

molecular biology

noun    (Medical Dictionary)

Medical Definition of MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

: a branch of biology dealing with the ultimate physicochemical organization of living matter and especially with the molecular basis of inheritance and protein synthesis

molecular biology

noun    (Concise Encyclopedia)

Field of science concerned with the chemical structures and processes of biological phenomena at the molecular level. Having developed out of the related fields of biochemistry, genetics, and biophysics, the discipline is particularly concerned with the study of proteins, nucleic acids, and enzymes. In the early 1950s, growing knowledge of the structure of proteins enabled the structure of DNA to be described. The discovery in the 1970s of certain types of enzymes that can cut and recombine segments of DNA (see recombination) in the chromosomes of certain bacteria made recombinant-DNA technology possible. Molecular biologists use that technology to isolate and modify specific genes (see genetic engineering).