Why Molecular Markers?
Molecular biology may be defined as the branch of biology focused on the formation, structure, and function of DNA, RNA and proteins, and their roles in the transmission of genetic information. The central theme of molecular biology is as follows: Information encoded in a sequence of the DNA strand, passes to molecules of RNA through a process called transcription. RNA acts as a messenger (mRNA) to pass the information to proteins through a process called translation. The message transcribed from the gene is therefore translated into a protein product that is specialized for a particular function based on the instruction stored in the gene. With the sequencing the human genome, molecular biologists became faced with another hurdle, determining the function of individual genes and their protein products. Knowing the function of each gene is essential to biotechnology, a branch of engineering that focuses on using such knowledge for the development of molecular markers and treatments for
