What is molecular evolution?
Q: What is molecular evolution?
A: Molecular evolution is the process of evolution in DNA, RNA, and proteins.
Q: When did molecular evolution emerge as a scientific field?
A: Molecular evolution emerged as a scientific field in the 1960s.
Q: Which fields of research contributed to the emergence of molecular evolution?
A: Researchers from molecular biology, evolutionary biology, and population genetics contributed to the emergence of molecular evolution.
Q: What are some of the key topics studied in molecular evolution?
A: Some of the key topics studied in molecular evolution include the evolution of enzyme function, the use of nucleic acid changes as a molecular clock to study species divergence, and the origin of non-functional or junk DNA.
Q: What has led to a dramatic increase in studies on molecular evolution?
A: Recent advances in genomics, including whole-genome sequencing, and bioinformatics have led to a dramatic increase in studies on molecular evolution.
Q: What are some of the topics that have become more prominent in molecular evolution research in recent years?
A: In recent years, the role of gene duplication, the extent of adaptive molecular evolution versus neutral genetic drift, and the identification of molecular changes responsible for various human characteristics especially those pertaining to infection, disease, and cognition have become more prominent in molecular evolution research.
Q: How do researchers use nucleic acid changes as a molecular clock?
A: Researchers use nucleic acid changes as a molecular clock to study species divergence. By measuring the rate of nucleic acid changes over time, they can estimate how long ago two species diverged from a common ancestor.
