Molecular Biology papers
Pofolia’s corpus holds 47 papers from Molecular Biology (1989–2026), each with a short summary. Below, the 20 most-cited, then the most recently added.
At a glance
- Most cited: WGCNA: an R package for weighted correlation network analysis (2008, 29,595 citations).
- The 20 papers listed have 60,749 citations between them.
- 16 of the 18 with a known journal quartile appeared in a Q1 journal.
- 9 have a free full text (open access).
- Most frequent journals: Nature, Nucleic Acids Research, Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology.
- Published between 1989 and 2026.
Most cited
Ranked by citation count. Because citations accumulate over time, this list naturally leans towards work published a few years ago; for where the field is now, see “recently added”. How to read the signals
WGCNA: an R package for weighted correlation network analysis
BMC Bioinformatics · 2008 · Q1 · SJR 1.00 · FWCI 12.48 · 29,595 citations · Open access
The WGCNA R package provides a comprehensive software implementation for weighted correlation network analysis, enabling the identification of gene modules and their relationships to sample traits.
Calcium's Role in Mechanotransduction during Muscle Development
Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry · 2014 · Q3 · FWCI 388.10 · 14,545 citations
Calcium influx and release, triggered by mechanical forces like stretch or altered gravity, activate NFAT and MAPK pathways, orchestrating cytoskeletal remodeling, cell cycle progression, and differentiation essential for muscle development.
Carbon Isotope Discrimination and Photosynthesis
Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology · 1989 · FWCI 11.16 · 6,777 citations
This review explores the physical and enzymatic factors driving carbon isotope discrimination during photosynthesis.
Direct Gene Transfer into Mouse Muscle in Vivo
Science · 1990 · Q1 · SJR 10.00 · FWCI 27.22 · 4,165 citations
Direct injection of DNA or RNA expression vectors into mouse skeletal muscle in vivo resulted in readily detectable protein expression without special delivery systems.
Fiber Types in Mammalian Skeletal Muscles
Physiological Reviews · 2011 · Q1 · SJR 11.00 · FWCI 30.17 · 2,974 citations
Mammalian skeletal muscle fiber types, established during embryonic development and modulated by neural/hormonal factors, exhibit significant species and individual variability, with myosin heavy chain isoforms serving as key markers.
Nutritional and Therapeutic Potential of Spirulina
Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology · 2005 · Q2 · FWCI 3.32 · 523 citations
Spirulina, a cyanobacterium, demonstrates significant immune-modulatory effects, corrects glucose and lipid profiles, inhibits enveloped viruses (herpes, CMV, influenza, HIV), and possesses anti-carcinogenic and organ-protective properties.
Growth Factor Regulation of Fracture Repair
Journal of Bone and Mineral Research · 1999 · Q1 · SJR 2.00 · FWCI 4.39 · 499 citations · Open access
Growth factors like PDGF, TGF-β, FGF, and BMPs are released at fracture sites, initiating and regulating the complex, multi-stage process of bone healing, which mirrors embryonic bone development.
Of fingers, toes and penises
Nature · 1997 · Q1 · SJR 19.00 · FWCI 3.07 · 368 citations · Open access
A specific DNA sequence (Hoxd13 gene) controls the development of digits and external genitalia in mice.
Phenylpropanoids metabolism: recent insight into stress tolerance and plant development cues
Frontiers in Plant Science · 2025 · Q1 · SJR 1.00 · FWCI 80.12 · 235 citations · Open access
Phenylpropanoid pathways are crucial for developing climate-resilient crops, producing over 8000 metabolites like flavonoids and lignin that mediate biotic/abiotic stress tolerance and plant development.
The microbiota: An exercise immunology perspective
PubMed · 2026 · 197 citations
The gut microbiota, a collection of microorganisms producing hormonal signaling molecules, is modulated by exercise and associated with improved immune responses and metabolic health.
Medicinal plants and human health: a comprehensive review of bioactive compounds, therapeutic effects, and applications
Phytochemistry Reviews · 2025 · Q1 · SJR 1.00 · FWCI 48.22 · 142 citations · Open access
Modern technologies like omics platforms and AI are accelerating the discovery and application of bioactive compounds from medicinal plants, while nanotechnology enhances drug delivery for complex diseases.
The Gene Ontology knowledgebase in 2026
Nucleic Acids Research · 2025 · Q1 · SJR 8.00 · FWCI 47.54 · 140 citations
The Gene Ontology (GO) knowledgebase has been significantly updated over the past three years, expanding its coverage of cellular metabolism, host-pathogen interactions, extracellular matrix proteins, chromatin remodeling, and noncoding RNA functions.
Genome modelling and design across all domains of life with Evo 2
Nature · 2026 · Q1 · SJR 19.00 · FWCI 337.17 · 122 citations
Evo 2, a new AI foundation model trained on 9 trillion DNA base pairs, accurately predicts the functional impacts of genetic variations and generates novel genomic sequences across all domains of life with single-nucleotide resolution and a 1 million token context window.
The UCSC Genome Browser database: 2026 update
Nucleic Acids Research · 2025 · Q1 · SJR 8.00 · FWCI 40.75 · 120 citations · Open access
The UCSC Genome Browser's 2026 update introduces a positional heatmap for mutation consequence data, QuickLift for cross-assembly annotation copying, and HubSpace for simplified track hub creation with dedicated storage.
Spatial omics at the forefront: emerging technologies, analytical innovations, and clinical applications
Cancer Cell · 2025 · Q1 · SJR 26.00 · FWCI 38.71 · 114 citations
Spatial omics technologies now map tumor ecosystems with high fidelity, integrating multimodal data and foundation models to reveal functional niches and their impact on cancer evolution and clinical outcomes.
IL-1 family cytokines in inflammation and immunity
Cellular and Molecular Immunology · 2025 · Q1 · SJR 7.00 · FWCI 36.97 · 103 citations · Open access
The IL-1 system, comprising agonists, antagonists, and receptors, is central to innate immunity, tissue injury responses, and inflammatory diseases, with IL-1 blocking agents already approved for clinical use.
A unified model for cohesin function in sister chromatid cohesion and chromatin loop formation
Molecular Cell · 2025 · Q1 · SJR 10.00 · FWCI 13.62 · 40 citations
Cohesin forms chromatin loops via sequential topological capture of two DNAs, similar to sister chromatid cohesion, challenging the prevailing loop extrusion model.
An extrinsic motor directs chromatin loop formation by cohesin
The EMBO Journal · 2024 · Q1 · SJR 4.00 · FWCI 5.12 · 35 citations · Open access
Transcription, not loop extrusion, drives in vivo chromatin loop formation, with transcription acting as an extrinsic motor to expand and position these loops.
Current insights into plant volatile organic compound biosynthesis
Current Opinion in Plant Biology · 2025 · Q1 · SJR 3.00 · FWCI 3.98 · 29 citations
A peroxisomal enzyme, benzaldehyde synthase, in petunia and a bifunctional enzyme, RcG/FPPS1, in roses have been identified, elucidating key steps in the biosynthesis of benzaldehyde and cytosolic geranyl diphosphate, respectively.
Integrated metabolomic and transcriptomic analysis reveals the role of root phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway in the salt tolerance of perennial ryegrass
BMC Plant Biology · 2024 · Q1 · SJR 1.00 · FWCI 4.05 · 26 citations · Open access
Perennial ryegrass's salt tolerance is linked to its root phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway, with the tolerant genotype P2 showing higher expression of related genes and increased phenylpropanoids, flavonoids, and anthocyanins compared to the sensitive genotype P1 under 200 mM NaCl stress.
Recently added
VIPR RNA-guided DNA recognition by noncontiguous geometric triplex formation
Science · 2026 · Q1 · SJR 10.00 · FWCI 5.45 · 2 citations
VIPR systems utilize a novel mechanism of RNA-guided DNA recognition, forming a geometric triplex by skipping every third nucleotide in the RNA-DNA hybrid.
Reimagining research papers as interactive and reliable AI agents
Nature · 2026 · Q1 · SJR 19.00 · FWCI 5.45 · 2 citations
Paper2Agent framework converts research papers into AI agents that act as virtual corresponding authors, enabling direct querying and execution of paper's methods, code, and data.
Intestinal Serotonergic Vagal Signaling as a Mediator of Microbiota-Induced Hypertension
Circulation · 2026 · Q1 · SJR 8.00 · 5 citations
Intestinal serotonin (5-HT) signaling via the vagal 5HT3a receptor is a crucial link between gut microbiota and blood pressure homeostasis, and restoring this signaling can alleviate hypertension.
SPARQL-LLM: Real-Time SPARQL Query Generation from Natural Language Questions
ACM Transactions on the Web · 2026 · Q1 · FWCI 8.17 · 3 citations
SPARQL-LLM, an open-source, triplestore-agnostic system, generates SPARQL queries from natural language questions with up to 59% higher F1 score and 27x faster runtime than the second-best system, costing only $0.01 per question.
Synaptic Organization of the Primate Retina: Toward a Human Foveal Connectome
Annual Review of Vision Science · 2026 · Q1 · SJR 2.00 · FWCI 2.49 · 2 citations
AI-powered connectomics reveals that differences in synaptic connectivity, not just conserved cell types, drive species-specific functional specialization in primate retinas.
An archaic reference-free method to jointly infer Neanderthal and Denisovan introgressed segments in modern human genomes
Molecular Biology and Evolution · 2026 · Q1 · SJR 2.00 · FWCI 2.72 · 2 citations
A new HMM-based method (DAIseg) simultaneously infers multiple waves of ancient and recent admixture using only modern human reference genomes, outperforming current methods and identifying more archaic segments in Papuan populations, including evidence for two Denisovan introgression events.
A breast tissue-specific epigenetic clock provides accurate chronological age predictions and reveals de-correlation of age and DNA methylation in tumor-adjacent and tumor samples
Epigenetics · 2026 · Q1 · SJR 1.00 · FWCI 5.44 · 2 citations · Open access
A new Breast Tissue-specific Epigenetic Clock (BTEC) predicts chronological age in breast tissue with high accuracy (r=0.88, MAE=3.27 years), significantly outperforming pan-tissue models.
BLOBFISH: Bipartite Limited Subnetworks from Multiple Observations using Breadth-First Search with Constrained Hops
Bioinformatics · 2026 · Q1 · SJR 2.00 · FWCI 5.45 · 2 citations · Open access
BLOBFISH identifies compact subnetworks connecting user-specified gene sets in biological networks using a breadth-first search on bipartite graphs.
Journals in this field
The journals that publish most of this field’s papers. Quartile (Q1–Q4), SJR and h-index are from SCImago Journal Rank; “in this field” is how many of the journal’s pooled papers belong here. What is a Q1 journal? · What is the h-index?
| Journal | Quartile | SJR | h-index | In this field | Summaries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nature Communications | Q1 | 4.00 | 634 | 4 | 94 |
| Nature | Q1 | 19.00 | 1495 | 3 | 48 |
| Science | Q1 | 10.00 | 1433 | 3 | 268 |
| Nature Genetics | Q1 | 15.00 | 679 | 2 | 7 |
| Nucleic Acids Research | Q1 | 8.00 | 714 | 2 | 43 |
| Physiological Reviews | Q1 | 11.00 | 417 | 1 | 28 |
| Circulation | Q1 | 8.00 | 712 | 1 | 46 |
| JAMA Neurology | Q1 | 5.00 | 298 | 1 | 10 |
Every journal in Molecular Biology (Q1–Q4) →
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