I can extract side effects

Huang Qin suppressed his nervousness and walked through the long corridor to an office.

He looked at the words 'President's Office' on the door plate, swallowed, and his mood became complicated.

It was a mixture of emotions mixed with excitement, nervousness, anxiety, and anticipation.

It was like a glass of mixed booze bombs that would give him an instant adrenaline rush.

"Calm down, calm down, isn't it just reporting to Mr. Wei, it's no big deal."

Huang Qin wiped the fine beads of sweat from his forehead and knocked lightly on the door.

"Come in!" An unusually familiar voice came from inside.

Hearing Tang Que's voice, Huang Qin's mood instantly calmed down a lot.

Although it was the first time to meet Mr. Wei, he was familiar with reporting work in front of Director Tang, and he would never be stage fright.

Push the door open, sit at the conference table, and start to report work skillfully.

During this period of time, his main job was to cooperate with Syngenta to develop gene-edited crops, and the work went smoothly and the results were remarkable.

As he spoke, he couldn't help puffing out his chest and raising his head, feeling confident.

"To sum up, these are all the genetic crops we have so far. There are seven or eight kinds of soybeans, corn, rice, peanuts, etc. The varieties are very rich and the products are extremely strong."

"Because the seeds of genetic crops cannot be kept, the second-generation traits will be greatly attenuated, so the mass production technology of rapid breeding is very important, and this is also the direction we will focus on in the future..."

Wei Kang interrupted him suddenly: "Have you been using the third-generation gene editing tool of CRISPR-Cas 9?"

Huang Qin nodded: "That's right."

Wei Kang and Tang Que looked at each other, and their faces became serious: "There may be serious hidden dangers in patents."

Huang Qin was a little puzzled and said: "This technology is easier to use than the previous two generations of technology. It can quickly and accurately edit genes, and the cost is very low. It is free to use in academics. Even if it enters the stage of commercial application, it is just a matter of submitting some patents. fee issue."

Wei Kang smiled slightly: "The free ones are the most expensive, but the most important thing in the research and development stage is to produce results first, and then consider other factors, so this is not your problem."

Tang Que said, "Have you considered using the first-generation gene editing tool ZFN zinc finger protein?"

Huang Qin shook his head: "Plants are different from human beings. They have an extra cell wall. It is difficult for ZFN technology to break through into the cells. In this way, the technical cost will be unbearably high, and the yield rate is also very low. It is only suitable for laboratories. rather than industrial production."

He went on to say: "In fact, we also considered the second-generation TALEN gene editing tool at the beginning. One of its advantages is that the natural protein that cuts the DNA chain is secreted by plant bacteria, which has unique advantages for plants."

"However, the yield of TALENs protein is very low, and it is mainly obtained from natural plant bacteria, which cannot be mass-produced at low cost. Moreover, this patent has not expired, and we still have to pay patent fees."

"CRISPR-Cas 9 is the choice we made after comprehensive consideration. It is cheap, easy to use, fast, accurate, and wins in all aspects. If we do not use this gene editing tool, it will be difficult for us to achieve industrial mass production. The number of seeds required for the land of the whole country is an astronomical figure."

Wei Kang showed an appreciative smile: "You have considered very well, you have chosen the most suitable tools, and you have done a great job. As I said before, this is not your researchers' problem."

He turned to look at Tang Que: "Is there any way to circumvent the patent?"

Tang Que thought for a moment and said: "CRISPR is the natural immune system of bacteria itself, and CAS9 is a protease in bacteria that is specially used to cut gene fragments. According to this principle, different bacteria may have different genes. Edit protease."

"If we can perform massive screening and find a completely new gene-editing protease in bacteria, we can register our own patent."

"However, in this way, the workload will be very large, and we also need a large number of bacterial resources."

Wei Kang said decisively: "People have no long-term concerns, but they must have near-term worries. Gene editing tools are the lowest-level tools. We must not give others a handle on patent issues. There is a hidden danger in thalassemia gene medicine, but it is just a drug. That's all, it's not a big problem, besides, the price of drugs is already expensive, and paying some patent fees will not affect our income."

"But seeds are different from medicines. This is an issue related to the national economy and the people's livelihood. Originally, genetically modified seeds have been stuck by foreign countries. If someone catches a loophole in the patent, there will be big trouble."

He looked at the two of them and said solemnly: "Sanqing must have his own gene editing tools, this is a matter of principle."

"Tang Que, set up a special team immediately. We will go all out to screen a large number of bacteria and find new gene-editing proteases. I will provide you with the greatest convenience."

"Huang Qin, don't stop working on your side. Continue to cooperate with Syngenta to improve the mass production and breeding technology of super soybeans. When Tang Que makes progress, you should cooperate in time and apply the new technology as soon as possible." to mass production."

The two nodded at the same time.

Tang Que said slowly: "CRISPR exists in almost all bacteria and archaea. In addition to bacteria, I will also search for archaea. This aspect should be more likely."

Wei Kang said with a smile on his face: "Great, if you have an idea, I will contact the Huaxia Academy of Sciences, hoping to get their help. Their scientific research team often goes to various extreme environments and has a rich biological bank of archaea. .”

Archaea are organisms that appeared in the ancient times of the earth. They have the strongest adaptability to extreme environments. Therefore, they are still widely distributed in various extreme environments on the earth. They are found everywhere in high-temperature hot springs, salt lakes, deep seas, glaciers, and polar regions. trace.

They often represent the limit of life. The most heat-resistant, high-salt-tolerant, acid-alkali-resistant, and extremely anaerobic organisms discovered so far are all archaea.

It is speculated that archaea may have formed a special adaptation mechanism to adapt to extreme environments through long-term evolution, which is a huge treasure trove for scientific research.

People have continuously discovered some novel and useful abilities from archaea, which have great potential for the development and application of biotechnology.

The high-fidelity DNA polymerase Pfu enzyme used in the polymerase chain reaction is derived from the thermophilic archaea. People use the enzyme of this archaea to create a PCR machine, which has made a huge breakthrough in genetic testing technology.

Due to its unique photochemical properties, the purple membrane protein on the cell membrane of halophilic archaea has been used as an excellent biological nanomaterial for optical information processing and photoelectric response elements.

Some halophilic archaea can also accumulate a large amount of biodegradable plastics in their cells. Their superior material properties and low production costs make them have great application prospects in the field of medical materials.

In short, the extreme enzymes produced by extreme archaea are a treasure trove for the development of industrial enzyme preparations.

If we start from the direction of archaea, we may really have new discoveries and breakthroughs in gene editing proteases.

Tang Que couldn't help cheering up, his eyes sparkled: "Archaebacteria have a unique cell structure and genetic information processing system, which are similar to bacteria in terms of cell shape, but they are different in terms of genetic information transmission systems such as genome replication, transcription, and translation. There are also big differences, and if a sufficient bacterial library can be obtained, I believe that a brand-new gene-editing protease will definitely be found."

Wei Kang laughed: "Then I will wait for the good news."

After the two left, he immediately called Academician Chang.

Academician Chang has a wide network of contacts in the biological world and quickly agreed to help.

Then I contacted Wang De, President of Syngenta. The background and energy of state-owned enterprises are very strong, and they must be used if they can be used.

In this way, Sanqing's genetic laboratory quickly got in touch with the Huaxia Academy of Sciences, and began to work hard on new independent gene editing tools.