Cyber Heroes

What organism has made the greatest contribution to human biology?

Is it a monkey? rabbit? Pigeon? Guinea pig?

If biological researchers are really asked to choose one, then many people would give such an answer - fruit flies.

Fruit flies, since Morgan's time, have been used on a large scale.

Its advantages are really countless. As a species of the Insecta Diptera, fruit flies, like most of their relatives, have the advantages of "strong reproductive capacity and short life cycle."

Moreover, like most dipteran insects, it has a very high tolerance for "life".

Just take any empty bottle, poke some small holes in it, and throw in some rotten fruit that humans don't eat, and fruit flies can multiply in large numbers.

Moreover, at room temperature of 25 degrees Celsius, fruit flies can reproduce one generation every ten days.

It only takes ten days from egg to sexual maturity and reproduction.

Then, fruit flies have only four pairs of chromosomes, which are small in number and obviously different in shape.

Depending on the large population, fruit flies have many variations in traits, such as eye color, wing shape and other traits.

Therefore, Morgan could simply use the naturally obtained white-eyed fruit fly to verify the genetic laws summarized by Mendel.

It can be said that it was from this small animal that humankind's understanding of "living things" was completely changed.

This is simply the ideal experimental animal.

Unless the experimental project is related to the advanced nervous system, any geneticist with normal intelligence would abandon this species that seems to be born to enter the laboratory. Instead, it will have 23 pairs of chromosomes and many traits that are difficult to control. Why should large primates, which take at least sixteen years to reach sexual maturity and have strict requirements on diet and environment, hurry up and conduct inhumane experiments in laboratories?

Even if a technology is eventually implemented on the "human body", "human experiment" can only be the last step.

Until then, there are more good species with short life cycles that can help researchers explore unknown mysteries.

And this time, just like its kindred had helped Morgan, these little creatures helped Yawgmoth and once again took a solid step.

Yawgmoth's agar fast is the first instar larvae of Drosophila [The larvae that have just hatched from the egg and before the first molt are called "first instars", and the larvae after the first molt before the second molt are It’s called the second age, and so on] This thing is less than 0.5 mm, and it looks like it’s not much bigger than dust.

Xiangshan could only see tiny squirming dots.

But there is no doubt that it is what those fruit flies get when they mate.

Xiang Shan felt his heart being punched hard. He opened his mouth and asked: "Isn't it said that there are occasional natural matings? The birth of these eggs is accidental?"

Yawgmoth shrugged: "No, it's just a small number of metal-based fruit flies that can still snap. It's probably because the self-repair mechanism of genes reshapes the 'sentence' about reproduction, allowing the inserted foreign species to Genetic information goes into the process of sexual reproduction."

"ha?"

Yawgmoth nodded: "Let me put it in terms you are more familiar with. The genetic information of every living thing is actually an 'information library'. And our genetic material and enzyme system make up the 'call' these statement of genetic information."

"The original calling statement matches the database. Because of this, the genetic information will be expressed in different forms. Therefore, two species that share a huge number of genes will show very different characteristics. form."

"And we cracked the enzyme system, so I can insert some foreign information a little bit. This is what you have seen in metal-based cells. However, there is a problem with the compatibility of these foreign information. So, when life When the program is running and wants to call some information so that it can be used at the appropriate time, it has a bug."

Xiang Shan was stunned for a moment: "So 'forgot to reproduce' is just a vicious bug?"

Yawgmoth nodded: "Yes, bug."

Xiangshan slapped a cold patch on his forehead: "That's it. There should be no bug more vicious than this in the history of evolution. No matter how vicious it is, the degree is similar to it - it can completely wipe out the race within one generation. ah."

"But I still quite like a line in "Jurassic Park", which is called 'Life will find its own way.'" Yawgmoth pointed at the fruit flies: "A small number of fruit flies actually repaired this bug automatically."

Xiang Shan held his forehead: "You can't rely on luck on this thing..."

"No, we're not counting on luck." Yawgmoth was very confident: "As long as it happens once, it means that under certain conditions, it can indeed happen. And as long as we master that 'condition' and control the variables, I It doesn’t matter if you want it to happen as many times as you want.”

Genes have a strong ability to repair themselves. This is a built-in mechanism.

After all, the RNA and DNA used by organisms on earth to store genetic information are really fragile. If the rare high-energy particles from the universe accidentally hit it, it may cause a small amount of information to be written or erased, and rewrite the code of life. Viruses can do this, too. There are even many organic poisons that can cause damage to it.

But genetic information is still largely stable. Genetic systems also have the ability to self-correct when the "error" is not serious.

This process happens all the time.

"In other words, you think there is an unknown process or effect that can make up for this bug, at least so that our 'system' will not collapse." Xiang Shan nodded: "And it has already appeared in front of you. And What you have to do is compare the genomes of these fruit flies that have completed self-repair with the genomes of fruit flies that have not completed self-repair to confirm which genes were damaged by the genetic modification surgery, causing this mechanism to fail?"

"Almost." Yawgmoth nodded: "This process can be completed very quickly."

"Oh, I probably understand why you insist on me coming here." Xiang Shan sighed deeply: "Tell me, what do you need?"

"The computer I originally asked you to order is definitely not enough. There is more data to be run than expected..."

"Day!" Xiang Shan raised his middle finger: "It is impossible to cancel the order! Do you think it is a home computer, and you can return it without reason before it arrives? It is for research institutions..."

"Oh, keep those equipment too. I'm asking for better computer equipment."

Xiang Shan looked at Yawgmoth: "Brother, our research institute has just put up a sign, funding and so on... If I hadn't had to take the subway home later, I would have pulled out a handful of hair and shown it to you right now. Do you believe it?"

"Pull hair?" Yawgmoth was puzzled: "Is this some strange republican custom?"

"No, it's to express my helpless and crazy heart." Xiang Shan walked to the door, picked up his jacket from the coat rack, then put his hand into his pocket and fumbled a few times: "Of course, do you need any equipment? I brought some wine for the celebration."

Although the temperature in the laboratory can overwhelm a burly man, Xiangshan's cotton-padded jacket has good thermal insulation properties, so this palm-sized bottle of Red Star Erguotou actually feels slightly cool after he gets it.

Yawgmoth was surprised: "I thought I could open a bottle of champagne."

"Originally there was no wine. I remembered it when I came here, so I bought it at the street corner and was picked on." Xiang Shan shook his head: "When in the countryside, do as the Romans do. This is what we in old Peiping love - come on, come on."

Yawgmoth blew directly into the bottle.

Then I want to squirt.

But after realizing that he might spray the fruit flies with a sip of wine, the man swallowed this unimaginable sip of spicy liquid.

"What am I drinking? A cold fire?"

"This is what winning feels like, man."

The two men just leaned against the coldest wall in the laboratory, sat upright on the ground, and then shared a bottle of "Taste of Victory".

"I think it's pretty good." said the United States scientist whose accent was slightly changed by alcohol.

Xiang Shan nodded.

He sat on the ground and looked at the fruit flies. He felt that the orange light emitted by the heater was like circles of golden light.

Within the insect net is the shining golden future.

…………………………………………………………………………

"Gan." Xiangshan unplugged the cable from his body again and quit the reading.

He is now leaning on the inner wall of the vehicle, sitting on the ground, in the same posture as before.

But directly opposite it was pitch black.

The extraordinary vision given to him by the prosthetic eyes allowed him to know that directly opposite him were several barrels of cryogen that he had previously stored.

"Am I an idiot? What kind of eyesight? What kind of rhetoric? It feels like 'seeing the future in the insect network'... Hahahahaha, what a joke."

"The world right now is really like being locked up in an insect net."

"The 28-year-old me was submissive. The 37-year-old me was mentally flawed."

Xiangshan began to feel sick about these memories.

Although the high emotions in his heart told him that this was definitely his memory.

The "memory of subjective emotions" that he separated still echoed in his brain, reminding him of this.

However, Xiangshan really couldn't contain his anger.

He simply put the hard drive away, kicked open the door, and rushed out.

The solo-killing king Jadel is filming on a rock, using a homemade optical instrument to observe the south. At this moment, the afterglow of the sun is gradually disappearing. It's time to set off again.

Xiang Shan walked up to the Single Killer King and asked, "Brother, have you discovered anything?"

"Well, it's nothing. Amilcarre brought back some troops. However, the entire city has sunk below the horizon. I can't see the mobilization of their ground troops, so I don't know how many people they have brought back."

Speaking of this, the single-killer king sighed: "Sure enough, I should leave a hidden command in that anti-aircraft gun position and let it count down to ten hours before firing all the bombs."