NOVEL WEB Chapter 716
Chapter 688 gene
Microorganisms are the most widely distributed and numerous organisms in nature, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, etc. They are one of the oldest life on earth, the basis of all life, and the life in life.
The cells that make up animals and plants first evolved from bacteria. Measured by carbon standards, a person is a combination of hundreds of millions of bacteria.
“So it is no longer silicon, but carbon that dominates the world. The nickname of our genetic engineering research project is: How to guide the direction in the carbon era.” Shen Qi talked about his thoughts.
There are one trillion bacteria living in a person’s body, weighing up to three kilograms, and the total number of genes they carry is many times that of human genes. There are one trillion bacteria in the human intestine. They are normal microorganisms in the human body and are beneficial to the human body.
On the other hand, the 3 billion base pairs of humans have been sequenced, but only 2% of the content encodes more than 20,000 human genes, and the remaining 98% are still genetic puzzles that have not been studied clearly.
Shen Qi asked: “Everyone understands the first basic research of our project, what specific work should be done?”
“understand!”
“understood!”
“I want to try!”
“Can’t wait!”
Everyone took active actions and arranged the Biological Laboratory of Shen Qi Research Center with enthusiasm.
Biology and chemistry are closely related. Chemical protective clothing, fume hoods, basic medicines, utensils, instruments and equipment can be taken from the inventory of the central chemical laboratory.
Hardware and software for gene sequencing and gene editing need to be purchased separately. With the widespread application of next-generation sequencing software and CRISPR and other technologies, its market price has dropped to a lower level.
Han Meng spent a small amount of money to do big things. He used his professional knowledge to bargain with instrument suppliers, and only spent 5 million yuan to buy a genetic engineering special instrument experimental device commissioned by Shen Qi, saving 1 to 2 million yuan for the center, Yanda University, and the country. yuan.
The “Genetic Engineering Research Project” planned by Shen Qi is divided into three steps. The first step is based on the theoretical principles of the basic research stage, which is mainly genomics.
The ancient shotgun method is still the mainstream experimental method, and the same ancient method is the PCR machine.
The PCR instrument newly purchased by Shen Qi Research Center has undergone several rounds of upgrades, but its design principle is not essentially different from that of the first generation.
The rapid progress of genomics is thanks to Professor Yang Rui, the inventor of the PCR instrument, who is a pioneer in the Chinese biological world.
If the “Gene Engineering Research Project” achieves a final victory, please remember these six bioworkers who are willing to devote their lives to science. They are:
Shen Qi, Han Meng, Cui Hualin, Du Yuan, Tang Yaxing, Wu Junqiang.
The six strong men first performed PCR operations on themselves, tested and saved their DNA samples.
Then, the six strong men extracted their own skin cells, cultivated them into pluripotent stem cells through biological means, and stored ammunition for future research.
There are countless scientific heroes in history. For example, Australian doctor Marshall drank Helicobacter pylori to verify whether it is the causative factor of gastric ulcer.
Another example is the Peruvian doctor Keliyong. In order to verify whether the two symptoms are of the same cause, he cut open the wart on the patient, took out the blood from the wart, and injected it into his body. Unfortunately, he died.
The experimental operation of the six people including Shen Qi is currently relatively safe, and there is no life-threatening for the time being.
The first stage of the “Gene Engineering Research Project” is divided into two sections, advanced living organisms and microbes.
Gene is the link that connects these two areas.
Although the genome as a whole is important, scientists are more interested in genes, especially those related to human diseases.
With the completion of the sequencing of all base pairs of the human genome, the pathogenic mechanisms of thousands of common diseases including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, immune dysfunction, neurological diseases, AIDS, etc. have been revealed, but the number of patients is increasing. more.
Why is this?
“Yeah, why is this? To figure out and answer this question, and give the public a reasonable solution, this is what we have to do.”
Shen Qi and his PhD students broke their genomic DNA samples into 30-100kp-sized fragments, and then centrifuged them in a Cs2SO4 density gradient solution containing silver ions.
“Six subsidence zones were observed, the density from low to high is L1, L2, H1, H2, H3, H4 (L=Lower, H=Higher).” Han Meng was doing the experiment skillfully.
“H3 has the highest G+C ratio, 8 times that of H1 and H2, and 16 times that of L1 and L2.” Cui Hualin used the H3 component as a probe to hybridize with human chromosomes in situ, and then use the chromosome G-band image as Comparing, got some basic data.
The initial work of the first step of the “Gene Engineering Research Project” is relatively basic and routine.
The recombination rate of the long arm of human chromosome 21 is 1cM/Mb, while the short arm is 2cM/Mb. A similar situation occurs in yeast, although the yeast genome is 200 times smaller than that of humans.
The H3 component is mainly distributed in the lightly colored area of the G-band, and 43% of the H3 is located in the proximal telomere area. The sequence analysis performed by the Shen Qi project team revealed that the proportion of single copies of H3 component is 50%-70%, and the number of genes contained in H3, H1+H2, and L1+L2 account for 28%, 38%, and 38% of the entire genome, respectively. 34%, the experimental results show that a large number of genes are concentrated in a limited area of the human genome.
The initial experimental conclusions of Shen Qi’s team seem to be no different from the data published by the International Human Genome Sequencing Agency It is impossible for five doctoral students to obtain a doctorate degree from Yan University with such basic experimental research.
The basic experimental research is just a warm-up, and the core experiments are in the back.
“I just said that since we already know the pathogenesis of thousands of diseases, why are there more and more patients?” Shen Qi asked this question again.
“In the years when I was in the US, I specialized in AIDS. In order to prevent HIV from destroying immune cells and causing carriers to become ill, we can use biotechnology to modify the genes of patients, or modify the genes of their offspring, so that their offspring will always be Immune to AIDS. However, this genetic modification method has not been widely and legally used in clinical practice. I think it is because some genetic modifications can cause unpredictable new diseases and even directly cause death. This is also the main attack of my mentor and me How to avoid the hidden dangers caused by genetic modification to the greatest extent? Can genetic modification be absolutely safe and beneficial to humans in nature? It’s a pity that my mentor was taken away, and I returned hastily. China…” Cui Hualin is good at using AIDS as an example to explain his academic thoughts. After all, he specializes in the field of surgery, and he specializes in this direction.
“I think Director Shen should have a countermeasure?” Cui Hualin asked with great interest.