Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Vitamin

2008-07-26T23:42:42Z

CraigP: /* List of Vitamins */ links

A '''vitamin''' is a [[chemical]] substance required, in very small amounts, to maintain an organism's health. They act as a catalyst in the body's chemical reaction, commonly as part of [[metabolism]]. It cannot be produced by the organism, and so must be obtained from dietary or other sources. In order for a substance to be classified as a vitamin, its deficiency must produce a specific [[disease]]. For example, ascorbic acid is a vitamin ([[Vitamin C]]) in humans because its absence produces [[scurvy]], a lack of Vitamin D will result in [[rickets]], and thymine is a vitamin (Vitamin B1) because its absence produces [[beriberi]]. There are exactly fourteen known human vitamins.

Some substances are vitamins in certain organisms, but not in others (for example, ascorbic acid can be produced by all [[mammal]]s except [[guinea pig]]s and [[human]]s, and so is a vitamin only in those two instances.

Other substances needed to sustain life are not vitamins because they are macronutrients (for example, the essential amino acids).<ref>Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine 16th Edition by Dennis L. Kasper, Eugene Braunwald, Anthony Fauci, and Stephen Hauser, 2004</ref>

==List of Vitamins==
* [[Vitamin A]]
* [[Vitamin B1]]
* [[Vitamin B2]]
* [[Vitamin B3]]
* [[Vitamin B4]]
* [[Vitamin B5]]
* [[Vitamin B6]]
* [[Vitamin B9]]
* [[Vitamin B10]]
* [[Vitamin B12]]
* [[Vitamin C]]
* [[Vitamin D]]
* [[Vitamin E]]
* [[Vitamin K]]

==References==
<references/>

[[category:food and Drink]]

Vitamin

2008-07-26T23:41:16Z

CraigP:

A '''vitamin''' is a [[chemical]] substance required, in very small amounts, to maintain an organism's health. They act as a catalyst in the body's chemical reaction, commonly as part of [[metabolism]]. It cannot be produced by the organism, and so must be obtained from dietary or other sources. In order for a substance to be classified as a vitamin, its deficiency must produce a specific [[disease]]. For example, ascorbic acid is a vitamin ([[Vitamin C]]) in humans because its absence produces [[scurvy]], a lack of Vitamin D will result in [[rickets]], and thymine is a vitamin (Vitamin B1) because its absence produces [[beriberi]]. There are exactly fourteen known human vitamins.

Some substances are vitamins in certain organisms, but not in others (for example, ascorbic acid can be produced by all [[mammal]]s except [[guinea pig]]s and [[human]]s, and so is a vitamin only in those two instances.

Other substances needed to sustain life are not vitamins because they are macronutrients (for example, the essential amino acids).<ref>Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine 16th Edition by Dennis L. Kasper, Eugene Braunwald, Anthony Fauci, and Stephen Hauser, 2004</ref>

==List of Vitamins==
* [[Vitamin A]]
* Vitamin B1
* Vitamin B2
* Vitamin B3
* Vitamin B4
* Vitamin B5
* Vitamin B6
* Vitamin B9
* Vitamin B10
* Vitamin B12
* [[Vitamin C]]
* [[Vitamin D]]
* [[Vitamin E]]
* [[Vitamin K]]

==References==
<references/>

[[category:food and Drink]]

Biochemistry

2008-07-26T23:36:47Z

CraigP: typo

'''Biochemistry''' is the scientific study concerned chiefly with the chemistry of biological processes; it attempts to utilize the tools and concepts of [[chemistry]], particularly [[organic]] and [[physical chemistry]], to investigate living organisms. The science has been variously referred to as [[physiological chemistry]] and as [[biological chemistry]].

==Scope of the Biochemist==
[[Biochemist]]s study such things as the structures and physical properties of biological [[molecule]]s, including the [[protein]]s, the [[carbohydrate]]s, the [[lipid]]s, and the [[nucleic acid]]s; the mechanisms of [[enzyme]] action; the chemical regulation of [[metabolism]]; the molecular basis of [[genetic expression]]; the chemistry of [[vitamins]]; [[chemoluminescence]]; biological [[oxidation]]; and energy utilization in the [[cell]]. The study of the [[chemistry]] of the [[immune response]] offers the possibility of treatment and cure for such diseases as [[AIDS]] and [[lupus]].

==Biochemistry and other sciences==
[[Molecular biology]], a term first used in 1950, is used to describe the area of research, closely related to and often overlapping biochemistry, conducted by biologists whose approach to and interest in [[biology]] are principally at the molecular level of organization. The related field of [[biophysics]] brings to [[biology]] the techniques and attitudes of the [[physicist]]. [[Cell biology]] is concerned with the organization and functioning of the individual [[cell]] and depends greatly on biochemical techniques. As the study of life forms demonstrated similar or even identical processes occurring in widely divergent [[species]], it has taken the [[biochemist]] to unravel the underlying chemical basis for these phenomena.

==Timeline of Biochemistry Discoveries==
Biochemistry took shape since the early 1800's, with discoveries accelerating in the mid 20th century.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event

|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1828
| Friedrich Wöhler published a paper about the synthesis of urea, proving that organic compounds can be created artificially.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1833
| Anselme Payen made the discovery of the first enzyme, diastase (today called amylase).
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1896
| Eduard Buchner contributed the first demonstration of a complex biochemical process outside of a cell: alcoholic fermentation in cell extracts of yeast.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1953
| James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the double helical structure of the DNA molecule.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1953
| Hans Adolf Krebs discovers the biochemical steps of the Krebs cycle in carbohydrate metabolism.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1957
| Daniel Bovet receives the Nobel Prize for the development of antihistamines.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1959
| Severo Ochoa and Arthur Kornberg receive Nobel Prize for discoveries on the synthesis of DNA and RNA.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1970
| Hamilton Smith reports the discovery of the first restriction enzyme.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1971
| Theodor Diener demonstrates the fundamental differences between viroids and viruses.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1975
| Cesar Milsein, Georges Kohler, and Niels Kai Jerne develop the technique for making monoclonal antibodies.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1977
| Rosalyn S. Yalow, R.C.I. Guillemin and A.V. Schally receive the Nobel Prize for developing the radioimmunossay (RIA) techniques; and using RIA to analyze peptide hormones in the brain.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1979
| Martin P. Gabrielson, Ian Messeter and Steven Hawkes discover the first catalytic RNA molecule
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1984
| Cesar Milstein, Georges J.F. Koehler and Niels Jerne receive the Nobel Prize for developing a method for the production of large quantities of monoclonal antibodies.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1995
| The Food and Drug Administration approves the first protease inhibitor, a major weapon against the progression of AIDS.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1997
| The first complete nucleotide sequence of all of the chromosomes of a eukaryote is reported (yeast).
|}

==See Also==
:*L. Stryer, Biochemistry (3d ed. 1988); C. K. Mathews and K. E. van Holde, Biochemistry (1990); G. Zubay, Biochemistry (3d ed. 1993).

[[Category:Life Sciences]]

Biochemistry

2008-07-26T23:35:55Z

CraigP:

'''Biochemistry''' is the scientific study concerned chiefly with the chemistry of biological processes; it attempts to utilize the tools and concepts of [[chemistry]], particularly [[organic]] and [[physical chemistry]], for investigating living organisms. The science has been variously referred to as [[physiological chemistry]] and as [[biological chemistry]].

==Scope of the Biochemist==
[[Biochemist]]s study such things as the structures and physical properties of biological [[molecule]]s, including the [[protein]]s, the [[carbohydrate]]s, the [[lipid]]s, and the [[nucleic acid]]s; the mechanisms of [[enzyme]] action; the chemical regulation of [[metabolism]]; the molecular basis of [[genetic expression]]; the chemistry of [[vitamins]]; [[chemoluminescence]]; biological [[oxidation]]; and energy utilization in the [[cell]]. The study of the [[chemistry]] of the [[immune response]] offers the possibility of treatment and cure for such diseases as [[AIDS]] and [[lupus]].

==Biochemistry and other sciences==
[[Molecular biology]], a term first used in 1950, is used to describe the area of research, closely related to and often overlapping biochemistry, conducted by biologists whose approach to and interest in [[biology]] are principally at the molecular level of organization. The related field of [[biophysics]] brings to [[biology]] the techniques and attitudes of the [[physicist]]. [[Cell biology]] is concerned with the organization and functioning of the individual [[cell]] and depends greatly on biochemical techniques. As the study of life forms demonstrated similar or even identical processes occurring in widely divergent [[species]], it has taken the [[biochemist]] to unravel the underlying chemical basis for these phenomena.

==Timeline of Biochemistry Discoveries==
Biochemistry took shape since the early 1800's, with discoveries accelerating in the mid 20th century.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event

|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1828
| Friedrich Wöhler published a paper about the synthesis of urea, proving that organic compounds can be created artificially.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1833
| Anselme Payen made the discovery of the first enzyme, diastase (today called amylase).
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1896
| Eduard Buchner contributed the first demonstration of a complex biochemical process outside of a cell: alcoholic fermentation in cell extracts of yeast.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1953
| James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the double helical structure of the DNA molecule.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1953
| Hans Adolf Krebs discovers the biochemical steps of the Krebs cycle in carbohydrate metabolism.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1957
| Daniel Bovet receives the Nobel Prize for the development of antihistamines.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1959
| Severo Ochoa and Arthur Kornberg receive Nobel Prize for discoveries on the synthesis of DNA and RNA.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1970
| Hamilton Smith reports the discovery of the first restriction enzyme.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1971
| Theodor Diener demonstrates the fundamental differences between viroids and viruses.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1975
| Cesar Milsein, Georges Kohler, and Niels Kai Jerne develop the technique for making monoclonal antibodies.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1977
| Rosalyn S. Yalow, R.C.I. Guillemin and A.V. Schally receive the Nobel Prize for developing the radioimmunossay (RIA) techniques; and using RIA to analyze peptide hormones in the brain.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1979
| Martin P. Gabrielson, Ian Messeter and Steven Hawkes discover the first catalytic RNA molecule
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1984
| Cesar Milstein, Georges J.F. Koehler and Niels Jerne receive the Nobel Prize for developing a method for the production of large quantities of monoclonal antibodies.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1995
| The Food and Drug Administration approves the first protease inhibitor, a major weapon against the progression of AIDS.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1997
| The first complete nucleotide sequence of all of the chromosomes of a eukaryote is reported (yeast).
|}

==See Also==
:*L. Stryer, Biochemistry (3d ed. 1988); C. K. Mathews and K. E. van Holde, Biochemistry (1990); G. Zubay, Biochemistry (3d ed. 1993).

[[Category:Life Sciences]]

Biochemistry

2008-07-26T23:34:24Z

CraigP: /* Timeline of Biochemistry Discoveries */

'''Biochemistry''' is the scientific study concerned chiefly with the chemistry of biological processes; it attempts to utilize the tools and concepts of [[chemistry]], particularly [[organic]] and [[physical chemistry]], for elucidation of the living system. The science has been variously referred to as [[physiological chemistry]] and as [[biological chemistry]].

==Scope of the Biochemist==
[[Biochemist]]s study such things as the structures and physical properties of biological [[molecule]]s, including the [[protein]]s, the [[carbohydrate]]s, the [[lipid]]s, and the [[nucleic acid]]s; the mechanisms of [[enzyme]] action; the chemical regulation of [[metabolism]]; the molecular basis of [[genetic expression]]; the chemistry of [[vitamins]]; [[chemoluminescence]]; biological [[oxidation]]; and energy utilization in the [[cell]]. The study of the [[chemistry]] of the [[immune response]] offers the possibility of treatment and cure for such diseases as [[AIDS]] and [[lupus]].

==Biochemistry and other sciences==
[[Molecular biology]], a term first used in 1950, is used to describe the area of research, closely related to and often overlapping biochemistry, conducted by biologists whose approach to and interest in [[biology]] are principally at the molecular level of organization. The related field of [[biophysics]] brings to [[biology]] the techniques and attitudes of the [[physicist]]. [[Cell biology]] is concerned with the organization and functioning of the individual [[cell]] and depends greatly on biochemical techniques. As the study of life forms demonstrated similar or even identical processes occurring in widely divergent [[species]], it has taken the [[biochemist]] to unravel the underlying chemical basis for these phenomena.

==Timeline of Biochemistry Discoveries==
Biochemistry took shape since the early 1800's, with discoveries accelerating in the mid 20th century.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event

|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1828
| Friedrich Wöhler published a paper about the synthesis of urea, proving that organic compounds can be created artificially.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1833
| Anselme Payen made the discovery of the first enzyme, diastase (today called amylase).
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1896
| Eduard Buchner contributed the first demonstration of a complex biochemical process outside of a cell: alcoholic fermentation in cell extracts of yeast.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1953
| James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the double helical structure of the DNA molecule.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1953
| Hans Adolf Krebs discovers the biochemical steps of the Krebs cycle in carbohydrate metabolism.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1957
| Daniel Bovet receives the Nobel Prize for the development of antihistamines.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1959
| Severo Ochoa and Arthur Kornberg receive Nobel Prize for discoveries on the synthesis of DNA and RNA.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1970
| Hamilton Smith reports the discovery of the first restriction enzyme.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1971
| Theodor Diener demonstrates the fundamental differences between viroids and viruses.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1975
| Cesar Milsein, Georges Kohler, and Niels Kai Jerne develop the technique for making monoclonal antibodies.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1977
| Rosalyn S. Yalow, R.C.I. Guillemin and A.V. Schally receive the Nobel Prize for developing the radioimmunossay (RIA) techniques; and using RIA to analyze peptide hormones in the brain.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1979
| Martin P. Gabrielson, Ian Messeter and Steven Hawkes discover the first catalytic RNA molecule
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1984
| Cesar Milstein, Georges J.F. Koehler and Niels Jerne receive the Nobel Prize for developing a method for the production of large quantities of monoclonal antibodies.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1995
| The Food and Drug Administration approves the first protease inhibitor, a major weapon against the progression of AIDS.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1997
| The first complete nucleotide sequence of all of the chromosomes of a eukaryote is reported (yeast).
|}

==See Also==
:*L. Stryer, Biochemistry (3d ed. 1988); C. K. Mathews and K. E. van Holde, Biochemistry (1990); G. Zubay, Biochemistry (3d ed. 1993).

[[Category:Life Sciences]]

Molecular biology

2008-07-26T23:27:44Z

CraigP: correct lead

'''Molecular biology''' is the scientific study of the molecular basis of life processes, including cellular respiration, excretion, and reproduction. This branch of biology deals with the nature of biological phenomena at the molecular level through the study of [[DNA]] and [[RNA]], [[protein]]s, and other [[macromolecule]]s involved in genetic information and cell function, characteristically making use of advanced tools and techniques of separation, manipulation, imaging, and analysis. <br />

The term molecular biology was coined in 1938 by Warren Weaver, then director of the natural sciences program at the Rockefeller Foundation. In 1950 W. T. Astbury of the University of Leeds used the term in its now accepted sense, to describe the area of research, closely related to and often overlapping [[biochemistry]], conducted by biologists whose approach to and interest in biology are principally at the molecular level of organization. The field of molecular biology has grown with the increasing sophistication of available techniques and has quickly built upon its own increases in the understanding of biological processes. In the 1930s, with the help of the technique of [[ultracentrifugation]], [[macromolecule]]s were first studied in detail. Later, with the use of [[X-ray crystallography]] their three-dimensional structures were described. In the 1940s the process by which individual [[gene]]s produce their unique products began to be understood as resulting from the different sequences of the [[base pair]]s that make up the [[gene]]s.

In the 1950s [[Linus Pauling]] described the three-dimensional structure of [[protein]]s, and James Watson and Francis Crick described the [[double helix]] of the [[DNA]] molecule. Further advances were made in understanding [[DNA]], [[protein]], and [[virus]] synthesis and the regulation of [[gene]]s, and by the 1970s, the techniques of [[genetic engineering]] were enabling molecular biologists to study higher plants and animals, opening up the possibility of manipulating plant and animal [[gene]]s to achieve greater agricultural productivity. Such techniques also opened the way for the development of [[gene therapy]].

==Timeline of Molecular Biology Discoveries==
The chief discoveries of molecular biology took place in a period of only about twenty-five years.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event

|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1940
| George Beadle and Edward Tatum demonstrated the existence of a precise relationship between genes and proteins. In the course of their experiments connecting genetics with biochemistry, they switched from the genetics mainstay Drosophila to a more appropriate model organism, the fungus Neurospora; the construction and exploitation of new model organisms would become a recurring theme in the development of molecular biology.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1944
| Oswald Avery, working at the Rockefeller Institute of New York, demonstrated that genes are made up of DNA.

|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1952
| Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase confirmed that the genetic material of the bacteriophage, the virus which infects bacteria, is made up of DNA.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1953
| James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the double helical structure of the DNA molecule.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1960
| Rene Dubos works on antimicrobial agents and environmental protection F. M. Burnet and Peter B. Medawar receive Nobel Prize for the discovery of acquired immunological tolerance.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1960
| "Ames Test" to screen for mutagens developed by Bruce Ames.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1961
| Francois Jacob and Jacques Monod hypothesized the existence of an intermediary between DNA and its protein products, which they called messenger RNA.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1961-1965
| The relationship between the information contained in DNA and the structure of proteins was determined: there is a genetic code, which creates a correspondence between the succession of nucleotides in the DNA sequence and a series of amino acids in proteins. Monod and Jacob also demonstrated how certain specific proteins, called regulative proteins, latch onto DNA at the edges of the genes and control the transcription of these genes into messenger RNA; they direct the "expression" of the genes.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1969
| Simon Parks and John T. Estbury discover bacteriophages.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1973
| Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen, using plasmids, are the first to clone DNA.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1976
| Michael Bishop and Harold Varmus discover the cancer-causing genes, called oncogenes, and find that such genes are in normal tissues.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1978
| Daniel Nathans, H.O. Smith and Werner Arber receive Nobel Prize for using restriction enzymes to map viral genomes.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1982
| Stanley Prusiner isolates a protein from a slow disease infection and suggests that it might direct its own replication. He suggests the agent be termed a prion.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1983
| Luc Montagnier of France and Robert Gallo of the United States independently isolate and characterize the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) the cause of AIDS.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1983
| Kary Mullis invents the polymerase chain reaction.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1983
| Barbara McClintock receives the Nobel Prize for discovery of mobile genetic elements.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1994
| The Food and Drug Administration approves the first genetically engineered food for human consumption, a slower ripening tomato.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1995
| The Food and Drug Administration approves the first protease inhibitor, a major weapon against the progression of AIDS.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1996
| Peter C. Doherty and Rolf M. Zindernagel receives Nobel Prize for the discovery of how the immune system recognizes virus-infected cells.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1997
| The first complete nucleotide sequence of all of the chromosomes of eukaryote is reported (yeast).
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1999
| Forrest Doolittle proposes that evolution proceeded through horizontal gene between the three domains.
|}

==See Also==
:*A. Darbre, Introduction to Practical Molecular Biology (1988).

==References==
<references/>

[[category:biology]]

Molecular biology

2008-07-26T23:26:11Z

CraigP:

'''Molecular biology''' is the scientific study of the molecular basis of life processes, including cellular respiration, excretion, and reproduction. This branch of biology deals with the nature of biological phenomena at the molecular level through the study of [[DNA]] and [[RNA]], [[protein]]s, and other [[macromolecule]]s involved in genetic information and cell function, characteristically making use of advanced tools and techniques of separation, manipulation, imaging, and analysis. <br />

The term molecular biology was coined in 1938 by Warren Weaver, then director of the natural sciences program at the Rockefeller Foundation. In 1950 W. T. Astbury of the University of Leeds used the term in its now accepted sense, to describe the area of research, closely related to and often overlapping [[biochemistry]], conducted by biologists whose approach to and interest in biology are principally at the molecular level of organization. The field of molecular biology has grown with the increasing sophistication of available techniques and has quickly built upon its own increases in the understanding of biological processes. In the 1930s, with the help of the technique of [[ultracentrifugation]], the [[macromolecule]]s were first studied in detail and their crystalline properties described. In the 1940s the process by which individual [[gene]]s produce their unique products began to be understood as resulting from the different sequences of the [[base pair]]s that make up the [[gene]]s.

In the 1950s [[Linus Pauling]] described the three-dimensional structure of [[protein]]s, and James Watson and Francis Crick described the [[double helix]] of the [[DNA]] molecule. Further advances were made in understanding [[DNA]], [[protein]], and [[virus]] synthesis and the regulation of [[gene]]s, and by the 1970s, the techniques of [[genetic engineering]] were enabling molecular biologists to study higher plants and animals, opening up the possibility of manipulating plant and animal [[gene]]s to achieve greater agricultural productivity. Such techniques also opened the way for the development of [[gene therapy]].

==Timeline of Molecular Biology Discoveries==
The chief discoveries of molecular biology took place in a period of only about twenty-five years.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event

|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1940
| George Beadle and Edward Tatum demonstrated the existence of a precise relationship between genes and proteins. In the course of their experiments connecting genetics with biochemistry, they switched from the genetics mainstay Drosophila to a more appropriate model organism, the fungus Neurospora; the construction and exploitation of new model organisms would become a recurring theme in the development of molecular biology.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1944
| Oswald Avery, working at the Rockefeller Institute of New York, demonstrated that genes are made up of DNA.

|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1952
| Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase confirmed that the genetic material of the bacteriophage, the virus which infects bacteria, is made up of DNA.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1953
| James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the double helical structure of the DNA molecule.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1960
| Rene Dubos works on antimicrobial agents and environmental protection F. M. Burnet and Peter B. Medawar receive Nobel Prize for the discovery of acquired immunological tolerance.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1960
| "Ames Test" to screen for mutagens developed by Bruce Ames.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1961
| Francois Jacob and Jacques Monod hypothesized the existence of an intermediary between DNA and its protein products, which they called messenger RNA.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1961-1965
| The relationship between the information contained in DNA and the structure of proteins was determined: there is a genetic code, which creates a correspondence between the succession of nucleotides in the DNA sequence and a series of amino acids in proteins. Monod and Jacob also demonstrated how certain specific proteins, called regulative proteins, latch onto DNA at the edges of the genes and control the transcription of these genes into messenger RNA; they direct the "expression" of the genes.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1969
| Simon Parks and John T. Estbury discover bacteriophages.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1973
| Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen, using plasmids, are the first to clone DNA.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1976
| Michael Bishop and Harold Varmus discover the cancer-causing genes, called oncogenes, and find that such genes are in normal tissues.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1978
| Daniel Nathans, H.O. Smith and Werner Arber receive Nobel Prize for using restriction enzymes to map viral genomes.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1982
| Stanley Prusiner isolates a protein from a slow disease infection and suggests that it might direct its own replication. He suggests the agent be termed a prion.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1983
| Luc Montagnier of France and Robert Gallo of the United States independently isolate and characterize the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) the cause of AIDS.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1983
| Kary Mullis invents the polymerase chain reaction.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1983
| Barbara McClintock receives the Nobel Prize for discovery of mobile genetic elements.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1994
| The Food and Drug Administration approves the first genetically engineered food for human consumption, a slower ripening tomato.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1995
| The Food and Drug Administration approves the first protease inhibitor, a major weapon against the progression of AIDS.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1996
| Peter C. Doherty and Rolf M. Zindernagel receives Nobel Prize for the discovery of how the immune system recognizes virus-infected cells.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1997
| The first complete nucleotide sequence of all of the chromosomes of eukaryote is reported (yeast).
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1999
| Forrest Doolittle proposes that evolution proceeded through horizontal gene between the three domains.
|}

==See Also==
:*A. Darbre, Introduction to Practical Molecular Biology (1988).

==References==
<references/>

[[category:biology]]

Molecular biology

2008-07-26T23:22:45Z

CraigP:

'''Molecular biology''' is the scientific study of the molecular basis of life processes, including cellular respiration, excretion, and reproduction. This branch of biology deals with the nature of biological phenomena at the molecular level through the study of [[DNA]] and [[RNA]], [[protein]]s, and other [[macromolecule]]s involved in genetic information and cell function, characteristically making use of advanced tools and techniques of separation, manipulation, imaging, and analysis. <br />

The term molecular biology was coined in 1938 by Warren Weaver, then director of the natural sciences program at the Rockefeller Foundation. In 1950 W. T. Astbury of the University of Leeds used the term in its now accepted sense, to describe the area of research, closely related to and often overlapping [[biochemistry]], conducted by biologists whose approach to and interest in biology are principally at the molecular level of organization. The field of molecular biology has grown with the increasing sophistication of available techniques and has quickly built upon its own increases in the understanding of biological processes. In the 1930s, with the help of the technique of [[ultracentrifugation]], the [[macromolecule]]s were first studied in detail and their crystalline properties described. In the 1940s the process by which individual [[gene]]s produce their unique products began to be understood as resulting from the different sequences of the [[base pair]]s that make up the [[gene]]s.

In the 1950s [[Linus Pauling]] described the three-dimensional structure of [[protein]]s, and James Watson and Francis Crick described the [[double helix]] of the [[DNA]] molecule. Further advances were made in understanding [[DNA]], [[protein]], and [[virus]] synthesis and the regulation of [[gene]]s, and by the 1970s, the techniques of [[genetic engineering]] were enabling molecular biologists to study higher plants and animals, opening up the possibility of manipulating plant and animal [[gene]]s to achieve greater agricultural productivity. Such techniques also opened the way for the development of [[gene therapy]].

==Timeline of Molecular Biology Discoveries==
The chief discoveries of molecular biology took place in a period of only about twenty-five years.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event

|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1940
| George Beadle and Edward Tatum demonstrated the existence of a precise relationship between genes and proteins. In the course of their experiments connecting genetics with biochemistry, they switched from the genetics mainstay Drosophila to a more appropriate model organism, the fungus Neurospora; the construction and exploitation of new model organisms would become a recurring theme in the development of molecular biology.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1944
| Oswald Avery, working at the Rockefeller Institute of New York, demonstrated that genes are made up of DNA.

|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1952
| Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase confirmed that the genetic material of the bacteriophage, the virus which infects bacteria, is made up of DNA.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1953
| James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the double helical structure of the DNA molecule.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1960
| Rene Dubos works on antimicrobial agents and environmental protection F. M. Burnet and Peter B. Medawar receive Nobel Prize for the discovery of acquired immunological tolerance.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1960
| "Ames Test" to screen for mutagens developed by Bruce Ames.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1961
| Francois Jacob and Jacques Monod hypothesized the existence of an intermediary between DNA and its protein products, which they called messenger RNA.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1961-1965
| The relationship between the information contained in DNA and the structure of proteins was determined: there is a genetic code, which creates a correspondence between the succession of nucleotides in the DNA sequence and a series of amino acids in proteins. Monod and Jacob also demonstrated how certain specific proteins, called regulative proteins, latch onto DNA at the edges of the genes and control the transcription of these genes into messenger RNA; they direct the "expression" of the genes.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1973
| Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen, using plasmids, are the first to clone DNA.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1976
| Michael Bishop and Harold Varmus discover the cancer-causing genes, called oncogenes, and find that such genes are in normal tissues.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1978
| Daniel Nathans, H.O. Smith and Werner Arber receive Nobel Prize for using restriction enzymes to map viral genomes.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1982
| Stanley Prusiner isolates a protein from a slow disease infection and suggests that it might direct its own replication. He suggests the agent be termed a prion.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1983
| Luc Montagnier of France and Robert Gallo of the United States independently isolate and characterize the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) the cause of AIDS.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1983
| Kary Mullis invents the polymerase chain reaction.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1983
| Barbara McClintock receives the Nobel Prize for discovery of mobile genetic elements.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1994
| The Food and Drug Administration approves the first genetically engineered food for human consumption, a slower ripening tomato.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1995
| The Food and Drug Administration approves the first protease inhibitor, a major weapon against the progression of AIDS.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1996
| Peter C. Doherty and Rolf M. Zindernagel receives Nobel Prize for the discovery of how the immune system recognizes virus-infected cells.
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1997
| The first complete nucleotide sequence of all of the chromosomes of eukaryote is reported (yeast).
|- valign="TOP"
| align="RIGHT" nowrap | 1999
| Forrest Doolittle proposes that evolution proceeded through horizontal gene between the three domains.
|}

==See Also==
:*A. Darbre, Introduction to Practical Molecular Biology (1988).

==References==
<references/>

[[category:biology]]