The first synthetic starch with carbon dioxide, the first discovery and reconstruction of the complete composition of the transcriptional replication machine of the new crown virus, and the establishment of a new standard for the international leading, efficient and low-toxicity and simple and easy treatment of nasopharyngeal cancer... On January 10, the Life Science Society Consortium of the Chinese Association for Science and Technology announced the results of the 2021 "Top Ten Progress in China's Life Sciences", and 8 knowledge innovation and 2 technological innovation project achievements were selected.
Among them, one of the most publicly concerned results is "artificial synthesis from carbon dioxide to starch". The Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with the Dalian Institute of Chemicals and other units, has realized the artificial total synthesis of carbon dioxide to starch for the first time in the world, and the energy efficiency and rate have surpassed crops such as corn, which has opened a window for the manufacture of starch workshops and provided new ideas for the synthesis of complex molecules of carbon dioxide raw materials. The study has received strong international repercussions and is considered a landmark breakthrough that will have a transformative impact on the next generation of biomanufacturing and agricultural production.
Two of the top 10 developments selected this time are related to the fight against COVID-19.
The research group of Academician Rao Zihe of Tsinghua University and Professor Lou Zhiyong discovered and reconstructed the complete composition of the transcriptional replication machine of the new coronavirus for the first time in the world, and for the first time clarified the key enzyme molecules that the virus messenger ribonucleic acid "caps" mature.
Academician Gao Fu's team at the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has established a method to efficiently assess the cross-species recognition ability of coronaviruses, prompting us to continue to monitor animal-derived coronaviruses to prevent new coronaviruses from causing epidemics, and at the same time provide a molecular basis for understanding virus evolution.
In addition, the genetic innovation mechanism of vertebrate evolution from aquatic to terrestrial, the assembly mechanism of transcription initiation supercomplex, the new model of efficient and low-toxicity treatment to improve the efficacy of middle and advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma, the rapid domestication of heterologous tetraploid wild rice, the mystery of long-distance migration of birds, interference single molecule positioning microscopy, whole brain single neuron diversity research and informatics big data platform were also successfully selected.
The selection of "Top Ten Progress in Chinese Life Sciences" has been carried out by the Life Science Society Consortium of the Chinese Association for Science and Technology since 2015, aiming to promote life science research and technological innovation, and fully display and publicize major scientific and technological achievements in the field of life sciences in China.
Source Beijing Daily Client | Reporter Liu Suya
Edited by Kuang Feng
Process Editor Liu Weili