From the molecular standpoint, its key molecules are nucleic acids and proteins.
A large body of literature, spanning most of the last century, attests to the search for the key molecules and their receptors.
Toll-like receptors are now counted among the key molecules that alert the immune system to the presence of microbial infections.
Some approaches attempt to inhibit the functioning of the pathway in the diseased state by causing a key molecule to stop functioning.
Drugs may be designed that bind to the active region and inhibit this key molecule.
If we are content to think generally, then, we can see how the key molecules of life might have arisen.
It is based on comparing the detailed structure of key molecules.
In this case the methyl group derived from the catabolism of glycine can be transferred to other key molecules such as purines and methionine.
The discoverers believe that similar radiation could account for the uniform twist of key molecules in living creatures and help explain how life arose.
DNA and proteins are key molecules of the nucleus of a cell.