Molecular evolution is the biological process encompassing changes in the nucleotide sequences of DNA or RNA and the amino acid sequences of proteins over time, driven by mutation, recombination, genetic drift, natural selection, and other population-level forces. It focuses on the rates and patterns of substitutions, insertions, deletions, and genome rearrangements, as well as the emergence of new genes and regulatory elements. Molecular evolution underlies divergence among species, functional innovation, and conservation of essential biomolecules, and is quantitatively analyzed using models of sequence evolution, comparative genomics, and phylogenetic inference to elucidate evolutionary relationships and constraints at the molecular level.
Messenger RNA, or mRNA, is best known for carrying genetic instructions from DNA to the cellular machinery that makes proteins. But all RNA molecules have another, less appreciated property: They are naturally sticky.
Cell & Microbiology
Sep 15, 2026
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Research teams from INRAE, the University of Clermont Auvergne and the CNRS have reconstructed 10 ancient genomes (paleogenomes) that are the common ancestors of 84 botanical species of agronomic interest. Their work makes ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 11, 2026
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33
An international team of researchers, including those at the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at the Institute of Science Tokyo, has developed a protein language model that brings together two fundamental sources of information ...
Evolution
Sep 11, 2026
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More than two decades after scientists first sequenced the entire human genome—all 3 billion base pairs, of DNA code—the meaning of much of this code remains a mystery.
Evolution
Sep 9, 2026
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How do related proteins develop different functions? This is the question investigated by a research team involving Kiel University, DESY and the Center for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB). Led by Holger Sondermann, professor ...
Evolution
Sep 7, 2026
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When a patient's DNA is read, it is compared with a reference version of the human genome. This allows geneticists and rare disease experts to look at a list of places where the patient's DNA differs. Most variations will ...
Biotechnology
Sep 3, 2026
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The enzymes found in modern organisms are complex proteins, often with multiple folded substructures and specialized catalytic sites. Proteins are encoded by genes. Tracing the history of enzymes across all living organisms ...
Evolution
Sep 3, 2026
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Tuberculosis bacteria released into the air from infected individuals dry out to form infectious particles that are second only to measles in contagiousness. Weill Cornell Medicine investigators have discovered specific mechanisms ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 29, 2026
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A protein's function is determined by its structure, and structure—the way a protein folds—is determined by its sequence of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins.
Biotechnology
Aug 27, 2026
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54
Antimicrobial resistance is one of the greatest challenges facing modern medicine. A new class of programmable antibiotics known as asobiotics can be used to treat bacterial infections when classical antibiotics fail. A team ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 27, 2026
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