Final answer:
The area of genetics that focuses on the biochemical understanding of DNA and gene expression is molecular genetics. Option (a)
Step-by-step explanation:
Understanding Genetics and Gene Expression
The area of genetics that focuses on the biochemical understanding of DNA and gene expression is molecular genetics. Molecular genetics is concerned with the structure and function of genes at a molecular level and includes the study of how genetic information is translated to create the proteins and enzymes that perform most of the work within cells. It delves into how genes are regulated, how the information they contain is translated, and the mechanisms behind genetic disorders.
In contrast, population genetics studies the distribution of and changes in allele frequencies within populations and how these are influenced by forces such as natural selection, genetic drift, mutation, and gene flow. Transmission genetics, on the other hand, deals with the principles and mechanisms by which genes and traits are passed from parents to offspring (inheritance patterns).
The science that studies the entire collection of mRNA molecules produced by cells is called transcriptomics, which is a branch of molecular genetics focusing on gene expression patterns.