Molecular evolution.
Li, W-H. and S. Yi.
In,
Encyclopedia of Evolution, Vol. II,
Pagel, M. at al., Editors,
Oxford
University Press, New York, NY. USA, pp. 750-756, 2002.
- Abstract:
Molecular evolution is a discipline of biology that utilizes
molecular data to address evolutionary questions. The molecular data
used are usually DNA or protein sequence data, but may also include
other types of data such as the three-dimensional structure or some
biochemical properties of a protein. DNA and proteins are referred to
as macromolecules because they are much larger than molecules such as
oxygen or ethanol. The field addresses diverse questions, ranging
from traditional questions of life science to new questions driven by
recently emerged data such as whole genome sequences. Some examples
of these issues will be described in this article.