Editing Molecular evolution (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of molecular evolution}}

The [[history of molecular evolution]] starts in the early 20th century with comparative [[biochemistry]], and the use of "fingerprinting" methods such as immune assays, [[gel electrophoresis]], and [[paper chromatography]] in the 1950s to explore [[homologous protein]]s.<ref name=Dietrich>{{cite journal | vauthors = Dietrich MR |title = Paradox and persuasion: negotiating the place of molecular evolution within evolutionary biology|journal = Journal of the History of Biology|volume=31|issue = 1 | pages=85–111|year=1998|pmid=11619919|doi= 10.1023/A:1004257523100|s2cid=29935487 }}</ref><ref name=Hagen>{{cite journal | vauthors = Hagen JB | title = Naturalists, molecular biologists, and the challenges of molecular evolution | journal = Journal of the History of Biology|volume=32|issue=2|pages=321–341|year=1999|pmid = 11624208 | doi = 10.1023/A:1004660202226 | s2cid = 26994015 }}</ref> The advent of [[protein sequencing]] allowed molecular biologists to create phylogenies based on sequence comparison, and to use the differences between [[Sequence homology|homologous sequences]] as a [[molecular clock]] to estimate the time since the [[most recent common ancestor]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zuckerkandl |first1=Emile |last2=Pauling |first2=Linus |title=Molecules as documents of evolutionary history |journal=Journal of Theoretical Biology |date=March 1965 |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=357–366 |doi=10.1016/0022-5193(65)90083-4|pmid=5876245 |bibcode=1965JThBi...8..357Z }}</ref><ref name=Dietrich/> The surprisingly large amount of molecular divergence within and between species inspired the [[neutral theory of molecular evolution]] in the late 1960s.<ref name=Kimura68>{{cite journal | vauthors = Kimura M | title = Evolutionary rate at the molecular level | journal = Nature | volume = 217 | issue = 5129 | pages = 624–626 | date = February 1968 | pmid = 5637732 | doi = 10.1038/217624a0 | s2cid = 4161261 | bibcode = 1968Natur.217..624K }}</ref><ref name=King>{{cite journal | vauthors = King JL, Jukes TH | title = Non-Darwinian evolution | journal = Science | volume = 164 | issue = 3881 | pages = 788–798 | date = May 1969 | pmid = 5767777 | doi = 10.1126/science.164.3881.788 | bibcode = 1969Sci...164..788L }}</ref><ref name=Kim83>{{cite book |author=Kimura, M. |year=1983 |title=The Neutral Theory of Molecular Evolution|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]], Cambridge| isbn=0-521-23109-4|author-link=Motoo Kimura }}</ref> Neutral theory also provided a theoretical basis for the [[molecular clock]], although this is not needed for the clock's validity. After the 1970s, nucleic acid sequencing allowed molecular evolution to reach beyond proteins to highly conserved [[ribosomal RNA]] sequences, the foundation of a reconceptualization of the early [[history of life]].<ref name=Dietrich/> The [[Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution]] was founded in 1982.