After Lu Ning left.
"Ouch, ouch."
The five of them were still lying on the ground moaning.
They only felt a burning pain in their buttocks.
"Who did you mess with? You can beat me so well. It hurts me to death. Fortunately, there is no one else here. Don't get your butt picked off and beaten. It's really embarrassing."
All four people complained about Huang Mao.
They are like a cat that failed to catch a fish, but instead made a mess.
Bad luck.
Huang Mao was unable to refute the complaints of several companions.
He turned his head and looked at the scenery in the distance, his eyes filled with despair.
'I don't want to either~'
He touched his butt, leaving a tear of humiliation silently in the corner of his eyes.
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Lu Ning spent noon and afternoon studying and preparing some materials for the experiment.
The next day, he rushed to Donglin Community in Yanjing City.
This time the laboratory is in the villa area nearby.
Yan Xuejun was already waiting for him at the door.
As soon as he arrived, he asked Lu Ning to sign a contract with him.
The content of the contract is to the effect that the equipment inside cannot be damaged. If damage occurs, a series of compensations will be made.
It is also required that in addition to the original rent of 10,000 yuan, a security deposit of 10,000 yuan must be paid in advance.
For the sake of research, Lu Ning had no choice.
Sign, draw, and give money.
He paid back 70,000 yuan to his second uncle's family, and now he has given another 20,000 yuan. The 100,000 yuan in Lu Ning's pocket has not yet warmed up, but it is about to bottom out.
Yan Xuejun took Lu Ning to change clothes outside, put on anti-static safety shoes and a mask, and then they entered the laboratory.
The laboratory is about one hundred square meters and is filled with various instruments and equipment.
There are a lot of culture vessels in front of you.
Some transparent cabinets seemed to contain strong acid and alkali liquids.
After receiving the money, Yan Xuejun was worried that Lu Ning wouldn't be able to use the instruments because of the different styles, so he briefly introduced the use of various instruments to Lu Ning.
Among them are molecular detection equipment such as electron microscopes, PCR machines, gel imagers, electrophoresis equipment, etc.
Of course, DNA extraction equipment, DNA quality control equipment, first-generation sequencing equipment, PCR equipment, and high-density chip scanning equipment are all indispensable.
In order to be wary of Lu Ning, a lot of things seemed to have been taken away from the research room.
At least a few of the test benches were empty.
However, Yan Xuejun still warned Lu Ning some precautions, especially that some closed cabinets should not be opened at will.
Except for instruments and petri dishes, most things are not allowed to be touched.
Before leaving, Yan Xuejun pointed to the surveillance camera next to him and said, "You are just here for research, so be careful."
This is someone else's territory. Lu Ning could say nothing but nod his head to express his understanding.
After Yan Xuejun left, Lu Ning began to conduct research.
We have two days, which is plenty of time.
For this research, he planned to start with tardigrades and his own blood.
Let’s talk about tardigrades first.
After Lu Ning's detailed search, he discovered a key point in the evolution of the tardigrade, that is, it can steal gene fragments from other organisms.
Steal genetic fragments from other creatures to evolve yourself.
Tardigrades are simply veritable DNA thieves in the biological world.
This is so similar to Lu Ning's current copying ability!
This is the breakthrough.
According to research, nearly 17.5% of the tardigrade's genome is mostly composed of foreign DNA, but it was not stolen from animals, but moved from non-animal sources.
Such as plants, bacteria, fungi and archaea.
However, Lu Ning guessed that there should also be genes from animals.
The researchers found that in some cases, foreign genes replaced some of the tardigrade's own genes. While the genes that were not replaced in the tardigrade still maintained their functions, they were merged into one or more genes. Single or multiple fragments of genetic material from several species of bacteria.
To this day, tardigrades are still stealing genes from other creatures.
Sometimes Lu Ning wonders, did he accidentally fuse the genes of a tardigrade when he was struck by lightning that day?
And how do tardigrades steal genes from other organisms?
The reason is that when a tardigrade is affected by harsh external environments, its body will slowly lose moisture and begin to dry out in order to ensure its own safety.
When dehydrated and dried out, their genomes break.
The genome breaks, and that’s a key!
When water is added, the cell membrane of the tardigrade cell will still maintain a leaky state for a period of time. When the cell quickly repairs its own damaged DNA, it will also bring some DNA from the external environment into the cell and embed it into itself. of the genome.
In order to achieve the purpose of evolution.
In layman's terms, it means breaking and then building.
Constantly getting damaged, and then constantly absorbing the genes that can survive in the harsh environment, making yourself stronger and stronger.
For example, if you are in the desert, copy the genes of the plants that survive in the desert.
When you come to the sea, copy the genes that can survive in the sea.
Change with the environment and truly adapt to all environments.
According to research, tardigrades contain more than 6,000 foreign biological genes.
It relies on stealing genes from other creatures to make itself more and more perfect.
Finally become the most powerful creature that is immortal and immortal!
"It's really strong."
Lu Ning couldn't help but sigh.
This is a real creature.
How can you be so good as a living creature?
However, this also proves in disguise that the developability and feasibility of organisms lay the foundation for evolution.
At the same time, it also gave Lu Ning hope.
He was wondering if he had suffered a genetic collapse at that time.
That night, I suddenly felt thirsty. I didn't want to be dehydrated and dry.
Is the body protecting itself?
If we had followed the example of tardigrades and immediately copied the genes of other organisms, would we have succeeded?
Shaking his head, Lu Ning stopped thinking and began to monitor his blood.
Lu Ning squatted on the ground, avoiding the camera, then took out a knife and cut his skin hard.
Now his skin is so hard that it can't be cut without applying force.
He tested it at home and found that it was difficult for an ordinary long needle to penetrate his skin.
After drawing a large tube of blood.
Lu Ning squeezed the blood into a glass tube, and then put the tube of blood into a centrifuge.
It didn't take long to get plasma and serum.
The top layer of the test tube is serum, the middle layer is white blood cells and platelets, and the bottom layer is red blood cells.
Lu Ning took them one by one under the electron microscope and began to observe them.
No molecular structure can be observed under a microscope. All Lu Ning can see is the basic structure of chromosomes and viruses.
Through research, Lu Ning immediately discovered the abnormalities in his own blood and that of ordinary people.
In addition to abnormally active white blood cells.
His blood is also filled with a special virus, a retrovirus.
It looks like a tiny human brain.
What is a retrovirus?
Retroviruses are RNA viruses. Their genomes are encoded on a single strand of RNA. The viruses have the ability to penetrate cells and can effectively infect stem cells, tissue cells, skin cells and other types of cells. When the virus enters the cell, it passes through During reverse transcription, RNA is converted into double-stranded DNA molecules, and the DNA enters the cell nucleus and is integrated into the host cell genome.
It uses viruses as vectors to introduce exogenous functional DNA into human cell chromosomes through infection.
To put it simply, it is nature’s automatic gene editor.
Act as an intermediary.
On Earth, in recent years, some defective viruses have been designed and constructed to make retroviruses useful gene vectors, successfully transferring drug resistance genes into human hematopoietic precursor cells and expressing them in the cells.
Retrovirus is a type of RNA virus.
And what are RNA viruses.
There are many RNA viruses, such as: HIV, hepatitis C virus, Japanese encephalitis virus, all influenza viruses, rhinovirus, polio virus, novel coronavirus (COVID-19), etc.
Lu Ning was shocked.
But he soon calmed down again.
In fact, the human genome is littered with the remnants of ancient retroviral infections that invaded the reproductive systems of our primate ancestors.
A small number of human endogenous retroviruses have well-defined biological roles, but these biological roles are largely fluid, in other words, not shared by all.
These endogenous retroviruses in Lu Ning seem to be fixed.
available to him.
It's nothing short of miraculous.
"That is to say, my retrovirus has mutated, allowing me to infect the genes of other organisms through it, thereby achieving evolution."
In order to test this idea, he began to separately extract the retrovirus from his blood and began to culture it.
It is intended to observe and experiment with them.
