The author | Zhao Guangli
As the saying goes, "the first month is the year". On the tenth day of the Chinese New Year, Chinese scholars "celebrated the New Year" in Nature - in the early morning of February 10, Beijing time, Nature published 6 scientific research results of Chinese authors in the main journal.
China Science Daily observed that 5 of the 6 Papers by Chinese scholars were from affiliated institutions of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; not to mention, 3 of them were from the University of Science and Technology of China.
"Maybe it's accidental!" For the same school, the same date, and 3 papers in Nature, Liu Haiyan, the corresponding author of one of the papers and a professor at the University of Science and Technology of China, told China Science Daily: "I didn't expect such a coincidence. However, there are many high-level teams in various disciplines of the University of Science and Technology of China, and it may be reasonable that this situation will occur. ”
"Eight immortals cross the sea, each showing divine powers." Let's take a look at what breakthroughs have been made in these 6 papers.
1. Chen Xianhui, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and professor of the University of Science and Technology of China, etc
Important progress has been made in the field of superconductors of the cage structure
Chen Xianhui, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and professor of the University of Science and Technology of China, together with Wu Tao and Wang Zhenyu, discovered a new type of electron sequestration in the cage superconductor CsV3Sb5. The results were published online in Nature in the early hours of February 10 as an "accelerated preview".
The paper points out that this discovery not only provides important experimental evidence for understanding the abnormal competition between charge density waves and superconductivity in the superconductor of the cage structure, but also provides a new research direction for further studying the interleaved sequence closely related to unconventional superconductivity in the associated electron system.
The significance of this discovery has also been highly recognized by peers. In the latest issue of Nature, "News and Views," this result and another work published at the same time received high praise from peers: "The results of these two studies clearly bring new insights into the symmetry of cage-structured superconductors, which will undoubtedly stimulate further research into these interesting materials." ”
The rapid publication of the paper also shows the attitude of the editor. Chen Xianhui disclosed to China Science Daily that the team submitted articles to Nature on September 2, 2021, officially received them on January 26 this year, and published online in the form of "accelerated preview" on February 10, and the official time to receive online publication was only half a month, and usually about two months.
2. Professor Liu Haiyan and Associate Professor Chen Quan team of University of Science and Technology of China
Build proteins from scratch to design new methods
Based on the principle of data drive, Professor Liu Haiyan and Associate Professor Chen Quan of the University of Science and Technology of China have opened up a new protein design route from scratch, realizing the original innovation of key core technologies in the frontier technology field of protein design, laying a solid foundation for the design of functional proteins such as industrial enzymes, biomaterials, and biomedical proteins. The relevant results were published in Nature on February 10, Beijing time.
The paper reports on the high-resolution crystal structure of 9 de novo designed protein molecules, 5 of which have novel structures that differ from known native proteins. The reviewers believe that the approach presented in this work is sufficiently novel and practical; designing proteins from scratch is challenging, and the high-resolution design of 6 different proteins in this work is an important achievement that proves that this method works well.
Liu Haiyan told China Science Daily that her team has been working on data-driven protein design research since 2008, and there are also several phased results in the middle. He said that designing proteins from scratch can be said to be the culmination of computational structural biology, and at the same time it is the basis of biotechnology and synthetic biotechnology. "There are now some very good young people in China who have entered this field, and we look forward to more people joining us, so that we can jointly and stably occupy this important international frontier."
3. Pan Jianwei, Zhao Bo, University of Science and Technology of China, and Bai Chunli Group of Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences
For the first time, triatomic molecules were synthesized in an ultracold atomic molecular mixture
Pan Jianwei and Zhao Bo of the University of Science and Technology of China cooperated with the Bai Chunli group of the Institute of Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to synthesize triatomic molecules for the first time in the mixture of ultracold atoms and molecules, taking an important step towards quantum simulation based on ultracold atomic molecules and the study of ultracold quantum chemistry. The results were published in Nature on February 10.
For the first time, the research team successfully realized the synthesis of triatomic molecules using radio frequency field coherence. In the experiment, they prepared sodium-potassium ground-state molecules in a single ultra-fine state from an ultra-cold atomic mixture close to absolute zero, and successfully observed the signal of radio frequency synthesis of triatomic molecules on the RF loss spectrum of sodium-potassium molecules, and measured the binding energy of triatomic molecules near Feshbach resonance. This achievement opens up a new path for quantum simulation and the study of ultracool chemistry.
Zhao Bo, a professor at the University of Science and Technology of China, told China Science Daily that the short-term goal of quantum computing is to develop a dedicated quantum computer (that is, a dedicated quantum simulator), which can solve problems that existing classical computers cannot solve in some specific problems. For example, ultra-cold atomic molecular weight sub-simulation, which uses highly controllable ultra-cold quantum gases to simulate complex, difficult-to-calculate physical systems, can conduct accurate and all-round research on complex systems, thus having a wide range of application prospects in chemical reactions and new material design. The ultracold triatomic molecule is an ideal research platform for simulating the "three-body problem" under quantum mechanics.
In addition, ultracold triatomic molecules can be used to achieve ultra-high-precision spectral measurements, which provide an important benchmark for characterizing complex three-body interaction potential energy surfaces. Since calculating potential energy surfaces requires solving the multi-electron Schrödinger equation with high precision, the potential energy surfaces of ultracold three-atom molecules also provide important information for electron structure problems in quantum chemistry.
4. Gao Caixia and Xiao Jun of the Institute of Genetics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and qiu Jinlong of the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences cooperated with the team
Use double "gene scissors" to achieve breakthrough disease resistance and high yield breeding
Gao Caixia and Xiao Jun, researchers of the Institute of Genetics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Qiu Jinlong, researcher of the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, published a long research paper entitled "Genome-edited powdery mildew resistance in wheat without growth penalties" in Nature, which elucidated the molecular mechanism of the new mlo mutant of wheat that is both resistant to powdery mildew and highly productive And through genome editing, the MLO-related genetic alleles of the susceptible gene MLO are accurately manipulated in the main wheat varieties, and the new germplasm with broad spectrum anti-powdery mildew and high yield and high quality is quickly obtained. This study provides a new path for the practical application of disease-susceptibility genes in disease resistance breeding.
This work proves that superimposed genetic changes can overcome the growth defects caused by disease-susceptible gene mutations, providing a new theoretical perspective for the study of crop disease resistance breeding. Compared with traditional breeding methods, genome editing breeding greatly shortens the breeding process. This research is an important progress in wheat powdery mildew resistance breeding, which fully demonstrates the huge application prospects of genome editing in modern agricultural production, and also provides a new strategy and technical route for cultivating disease-resistant and high-yield crop varieties.
According to reports, the research team has been constantly exploring how to further use the MLO gene in disease-resistant breeding, so as to achieve "fish and bear paws can have both" Fortunately, they screened for a novel mlo mutant, Tamlo-R32, in a large number of genome-edited wheat mutants. This mutant exhibits complete resistance to powdery mildew while growing and developing normally and yielding normally.
After 8 years of collaboration, the researchers finally analyzed the molecular mechanism of wheat Tamlo-R32 mutant phenotype formation, and then overcame the negative phenotype caused by the MLO mutation of the disease-inducing gene, and finally achieved a win-win situation of disease resistance and yield.
5. Li Heping of the Institute of Geochemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Mao Heguang, a foreign academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and other cooperation teams
A new discovery of superionic matter in the Earth's core
Li Heping, He Yu, and Sun Shichuan, researchers of the High Pressure Room of the Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, collaborated with Mao Heguang, a foreign academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the Beijing High Pressure Science Center, Duck Young Kim, and Dr. Bo Gyu Jang to perform computational simulations of the properties of various ferroalloys (at the temperature and pressure of the Earth's core), and found that the hexagonal phase (hcp) Fe-H, Fe-C and Fe-O alloys were transformed into superion states under the temperature pressure of the core. Superionic hcp-Fe alloys and their seismic velocities in Earth's inner core" was published in the main issue of Nature on February 10, 2022.
The study found that the superion transition led to the accelerated softening of the alloy, causing a significant decrease in seismic wave velocity, and its values could be well consistent with seismological observations. The simulation results show that the flow of light element impurities can cause softening of ferroalloys, especially the reduction of shear wave velocity explains the long-standing mystery of core softening. The study suggests that the Earth's core is not the traditionally recognized solid state, but a superionic state composed of solid iron and flowing light elements.
Seismological studies have shown that the core structure exhibits complex heterogeneous and anisotropic features, as well as seismic wave attenuation and structural changes. Solving the above unsolved mysteries is the key to the structure, composition and evolution of the cognitive core. The hyperionic core, which updates our understanding of the state of the core, provides new clues for the understanding of kernel convection, the formation of anisotropic structures and the attenuation of seismic waves, and will become a new cornerstone for the study of the Earth's core.
6. Yang Yong of the City University of Hong Kong and Chun-Wei Pao of Taipei University
A chemically complex alloy is reported
Recently, chemically complex alloys such as "high entropy alloys" have aroused great research interest from scholars due to their good properties. In the early morning of February 10, Yang Yong of the City University of Hong Kong, D. Yong of the City University of Hong Kong, and D. Yong of the University of Hong Kong J. Srolovitz and Chun-Wei Pao of Taipei University, published a research paper in Nature online titled "A highly distorted ultraelastic chemically complex Elinvar alloy", reporting a chemically complex alloy that exhibits high elastic strain limits and very low internal friction at room temperature.
More interestingly, the alloy maintains a nearly constant modulus of elasticity between room temperature and 627 degrees Celsius (900° Kelvin), which is unmatched by existing alloys reported so far.
The development of high-performance hyperelastic metals with ultra-strong strength, large elastic strain limits, and temperature-insensitive modulus of elasticity (Elinvar effect) is important for a wide range of industrial applications, from actuators and medical devices to high-precision instruments. Due to the easy slippage of dislocations, the elastic strain limit of bulk crystalline metals is usually less than 1%. Shape memory alloys, including colloidal metals and strain glass alloys, can reach elastic strain limits of up to a few percent, although this is the result of pseudoelasticity and is accompanied by a large amount of energy dissipation.
In addition to the efforts of Chinese scholars, this issue of Nature also published 2 papers by overseas Chinese scholars, which also attracted attention. They are:
UC San Diego Wang Jing team
Explore the molecular and neuronal mechanisms of animals from eating to courtship
The UC San Diego Team published a research paper titled "A nutrient-specific gut hormone arbitrates between courtship and feeding" online in Nature, exploring the molecular and neuronal mechanisms that coordinate the transition from eating to courtship in Drosophila melanogast, which further addresses potential dynamics through calcium imaging experiments.
The study found that in hungry males, feeding takes precedence over courtship, and the consumption of protein-rich foods quickly reverses this order within minutes. At the molecular level, an intestinally derived nutrient-specific neuropeptide hormone (diuretic hormone 31, Dh31) drives the transition from eating to courtship.
Amino acids in food acutely activate Dh31+ intestinal endocrine cells in the intestine, thereby increasing circulating Dh31 levels. In addition, three-photon functional imaging of intact Drosophila showed that optogenetic stimulation of Dh31+ enteral endocrine cells rapidly stimulated a subset of brain neurons expressing the Dh31 receptor (Dh31R). Gut-derived Dh31 excites neurons in the brain through the circulatory system in minutes, consistent with the rate at which the "feeding-courtship" behavior transitions.
At the neural circuit level, there are two distinct populations of Dh31R+ neurons in the brain, one to inhibit eating through allatostatin-C and the other to promote courtship through corazonin. Taken together, the findings illustrate a mechanism by which eating protein-rich foods triggers the release of gut hormones, which in turn prioritize courtship over eating through two parallel pathways.
The Yale Mark A. Lemmon (first author Hu Chun is Chinese) team
Discover the potential impact of targeted therapies for a class of cancers
The Yale University Team of Mark A. Lemmon (Hu Chun as first author) published a research paper in Nature online titled "Glioblastoma mutations alter EGFR dimer structure to prevent ligand bias," which showed that common extracellular "polymorphic glioblastoma" (GBM) mutations prevent the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) from distinguishing its activating ligand.
EGFR often mutates in human cancers and is also an important therapeutic target. EGFR inhibitors have been successful in lung cancer, where mutations in the intracellular tyrosine kinase domain activate the receptor but not in polymorphic glioblastoma (GBM), where mutations occur only in extracellular regions.
The study, using X-ray crystallography, further showed that the R84K GBM mutations symmetrically symmetrically EREG-driven extracellular dimers, so they resemble dimers commonly seen in epidermal growth factors.
In contrast, the second GBM mutation, A265V, reshapes critical dimerization contacts to enhance asymmetric EREG-driven dimers. The findings demonstrate the important role of EGFR in altering ligand recognition in GBM, with potential implications for targeted therapy.
Related paper information:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04493-8
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04383-5
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04297-2
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04395-9
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04361-x
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04309-1
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04408-7
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04393-3