Come and see the whimsy of these listings

Source: Science and Technology Daily

Recently, the Chinese Association for Science and Technology released the "2018 China Life Science Progress", and the results of cloning monkeys and the "yin and yang balance" mechanism of natural immunity were selected. The top ten achievements are every year, and what are the characteristics of 2018?

Several half of the country and 4 neuroscience achievements were selected

Among the ten achievements, 4 advances are related to the field of neuroscience, namely: the discovery of the molecular mechanism of sun exposure to enhance learning and memory; the development of a neurotransmitter fluorescent probe that allows people to see the excitement signal; the discovery of a gene series that makes glioma "demonized"; and the birth of cloned monkeys, which provides the closest animal model to humans for future neuroscience research on specific diseases.

"Neuroscience is currently the most problematic place in the life sciences, and it's no surprise that multiple excellent results have been produced." Huang Zhili, a researcher at the State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology at Fudan University, believes that the current research in the field of neuroscience is not as mature as in some other fields, there are still many unknown boundaries, and the directions that can be overcome and the topics that are fruitful may also be relatively concentrated.

The progress is full of whimsical ideas. Some previous design experiments have shown that people who often bask in the sun have stronger learning and memory capabilities, but why? Which cellular pathways does the sun activate to stimulate the memory function of the nervous system? Relying on the self-developed single-cell mass spectrometry technology, the Xiong Wei Research Group of the University of Science and Technology of China and the Huang Guangming Research Group have discovered a new pathway for glutamate biosynthesis in the brain, and successfully analyzed the mechanism of action of the glutamate synthesis pathway in improving learning and memory through solar exposure. This study is the second time since the 1970s and 1980s that a new glutamate biosynthesis pathway has been found in the brain, and in-depth study of this pathway can further expand people's understanding of the physiological function of glutamate in the brain.

The single-cell mass spectrometry technology used is amazing and independently developed by the team. It can achieve rapid mass spectrometry detection of thousands of chemical small molecules in a single neuron, and synchronously collect electrophysiological signals, successfully completing the study of neuronal function, metabolite composition and its metabolic pathways at the single-cell level.

"With the gradual improvement of research methodology, there will be more and more breakthroughs in the field of neuroscience." Huang Zhili believes that the reason why it has been difficult to make great progress in neurological research for many years is that the complexity of the nervous system is much higher than that of other systems on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is because technological means have limited people's ability to obtain and study. With the improvement of imaging methods, detection methods and accuracy, neuroscience will slowly be unveiled, of course, what is now mastered is still not as good as a drop in the ocean.

For the first time, the innovation of the tool method was valued

"This is the first time that the classification has been conducted. We want to guide scientists to realize that innovative tools and methods are as important as innovative theories. Professor Wang Xiaomin, rotating secretary general of the Life Science Society consortium of the Chinese Association for Science and Technology, said that the selection of china's top ten progress in life sciences has been carried out for many years, which is the first time to be divided into knowledge innovation and technological innovation, and 8 of the ten achievements are knowledge innovation and 2 are technological innovation.

Tools and methods play a role in scientific exploration to "bridge and pave the way", providing scientists with a "secret artifact" in the unknown reveal. However, due to the fact that it is often behind the scenes of "making wedding clothes for people" and the need for multidisciplinary cross-promotion of technology landing, it is often "cold" in scientific research.

"In response to national policies and encourage technological innovation projects to participate in the evaluation, the Chinese Association for Science and Technology Life Science Society Consortium decided to start categorical selection in the future, in order to give a direction for scientific researchers - to encourage researchers to pay attention to the innovation of tools and methods." Wang Xiaomin introduced the classification norms to the Science and Technology Daily reporter: the knowledge innovation category is mainly a basic research project, requiring important discoveries in exploring life science phenomena, breakthrough ideas in scientific theories or doctrines, or original innovations in research methods; technological innovation categories have innovations in technical ideas, principles and methods involving the field of life sciences, have substantive characteristics and significant advanced nature in technology, or have formed innovative technologies, processes, materials, products and biological varieties with independent intellectual property rights.

The two technological innovation achievements selected this time are "Cloning Monkey" and "Development of a New Heritable Coding Neurotransmitter Fluorescent Probe". The former enables researchers to obtain the genotypic model animals they want, not only to "quickly copy" but also to "design themselves." Such "artifacts" are indispensable in the rapid development of brain cognitive science and brain disease mechanisms.

The latter combines fluorescent genes in jellyfish with human g-protein-coupled receptor (gpcr) genes to "visualize" live neural activity. With the help of probes, emotions such as excitement and happiness can be "visible", which will greatly facilitate neuroscience research. Li Yulong, a researcher at the School of Life Sciences of Peking University, told science and technology daily: "The progress of basic research is inseparable from the development of research tools, and I hope that the fluorescent probe we have developed can help the study of brain function and the analysis of neurological disease mechanisms." ”

In fact, knowledge innovation and technological innovation are not clearly distinguished, the two are mostly "you have me and I have you", for example, the "assembly and pathogenesis mechanism of herpes virus" in the ten major progresses has achieved a breakthrough in the reconstruction method of "large-scale particles". Professor Yang Maojun of the School of Life Sciences of Tsinghua University, a structural biologist, said that after the major breakthrough in single-particle cryo-EM calculation in 2013, there is still a big lack of calculation methods, and the reconstruction algorithm of "large-scale particles" in this study provides ideas and methods for latecomers. He believes that "new technologies, new methods and new ideas of scientific research are important cornerstones of life science research, and the innovation of selection methods can encourage researchers to calm down and develop new technologies and methods." ”

Deep into the essence of life "The Three Musketeers" staged a sequel

In the early days of the Human Genome Project, it was believed that by decoding the book of DNA, some questions about life phenomena were answered. Several years have passed, the battlefield of DNA is still there, but the hidden battlefield of RNA has gradually surfaced, and the underwater is even more unfathomable.

Among the new regulatory mechanisms of natural immune response and inflammatory response in the ten major advances, the research team of Academician Cao Xuetao, president of Nankai University, proved for the first time that long-chain RNA is also functional when it does not encode proteins, and can regulate life activities. This study fills in the previous cognitive black holes of the academic community, refreshing the role that RNA plays in life, and the non-coding long chain RNA that has always been regarded as useless plays a decisive role.

If DNA, RNA, and protein are regarded as the "three musketeers" of the macromolecular substance of life, then in the "sequel" of the opening chapter, DNA is no longer the only protagonist, and rna is likely to be directly promoted from "running dragon set" to "behind the scenes", and protein has not "reduced the role" at all.

A key determinant of tissue centers that developmental biologists have been looking for for decades, the huluwa protein, was found by the research group of Academician Meng Anming of Tsinghua University and the Tao Qinghua research group that the absence of huluwa (huluwa) will cause the embryo to be unable to form tissue centers and body axes, unable to form head tissue, and its ectopic expression can induce the formation of additional body axes.

Of course, DNA-level research is also hot, and gradually open the prelude to the study of non-human primates. Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences collaborated across units to achieve the whole-body knockout of the "longevity gene" sirt6 in non-human primates, and obtained the world's first crab-eating monkey model of longevity gene knockout, which revealed the new role of sirt6 gene in regulating primate embryonic development. This study is the first to illustrate the differences in aging and lifespan regulation pathways between primates and rodents, laying an important foundation for the study of the mechanisms of human development and aging and the treatment of related diseases.

"These ten major achievements will give the world a better understanding of the current situation of Life Sciences in China and the momentum of rapid development." In 2018, China's research in the field of life sciences has made a breakthrough from quantitative change to qualitative change, and more than 100 papers have been published in the top journals of CNS ("Cell", "Nature", "Science" short) alone, and many jobs have stood out in the fierce international competition. Yang Maojun said. (Reporter Zhang Jiaxing)