Research Topic · Peer-Reviewed

Molecular Evolution

Molecular evolution is the study of how the sequences of biological molecules such as DNA, RNA, and proteins change over time and how those changes drive the diversification of life. It examines the processes that alter genetic material across generations, including mutation, genetic drift, natural selection, recomb…

Curated from this journal's research 📚 12 peer-reviewed articles cited Cited 64× across the literature 🔖 ISSN 2689-4602 🗓 Reviewed June 2026

Overview

Molecular evolution is the study of how the sequences of biological molecules such as DNA, RNA, and proteins change over time and how those changes drive the diversification of life. It examines the processes that alter genetic material across generations, including mutation, genetic drift, natural selection, recombination, and gene duplication, and it uses comparisons of sequences between species and within populations to reconstruct evolutionary relationships. By analyzing patterns of similarity and difference, researchers can infer when lineages diverged from common ancestors, identify regions of genes that are conserved because they are functionally important, and detect signatures of selection. Molecular evolution underpins much of modern phylogenetics, comparative genomics, and the study of how pathogens adapt and spread. Evolutionary Science publishes peer-reviewed research that applies these approaches across many systems, including analyses of the molecular evolution of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, comparative studies of coronavirus spike-gene sequences, and investigations of evolutionary mechanisms in a heat shock protein 70 homologue from plant-virus isolates. This page gathers open-access research relevant to molecular evolution and the evolutionary analysis of genes, proteins, and genomes.

Research published in this journal

12 peer-reviewed articles, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.

How this research is being cited

The 12 articles above have been cited 64 times in the scholarly literature. Citation data via OpenAlex and Crossref, updated Jun 2026.

A sample of recent works citing this journal's research on Molecular Evolution, linking to each citing work.

Editorial oversight

Curated from peer-reviewed research published in Evolutionary Science (ISSN 2689-4602).

Journal editorial board
Maria Luisa Chiusano · Italy Adina-Elena Segneanu · Romania George Mikhailovsky · United States

This page summarises published research for orientation; it is not medical or professional advice.