The Science Fiction World of Xueba

Next, Pang Xuelin asked Jill to help arrange Ashford's residence. There were still vacant rooms in the manor, which happened to allow Ashford to move in.

In the evening, Pang Xuelin hosted a banquet to welcome Ashford.

The Kempten base has sufficient food supplies, and there are even steaks, fish steaks, and red wine at the banquet prepared by Jill.

After dinner, Pang Xuelin waved away the crowd, and then pushed Ashford into the yard.

"Professor Pang, I think we need to have an open and honest talk."

Ashford looked up at Pang Xuelin, and spoke first.

"Alright, Mr. Ashford, if you have anything to say, just say it."

Pang Xuelin nodded and smiled.

The reason why he named Ashford from Spencer was that, on the one hand, Ashford’s father, Ashford Sr., founded the Umbrella Company with Spencer and Mascu. You must know many unknown secrets of the umbrella company.

On the other hand, as a top scholar who has been immersed in the field of T virus for more than ten years, Pang Xuelin believes that Ashford has a deeper understanding of T virus than anyone in the Kempten base.

In the future, if he wants to find a way to deal with Spencer and others, he may have to start with Ashford.

"Professor Pang, I'm afraid you don't like the umbrella company, do you?"

Pang Xuelin was taken aback for a moment, and said with surprise on his face: "Mr. Ashford, where did you come from? I am working very well with Mr. Spencer now, and the construction of the Kempten base is also very important. Thanks to the support of Umbrella Corporation, how could I not like Umbrella Corporation?"

Ashford smiled, and said lightly: "Professor Pang, you don't have to be so vigilant. In fact, not only I can see this, but you and Spencer are also aware of it. It's just that now you both We need each other, the development of the Kempten base needs the financial support of the umbrella company, and Spencer hopes to find the ultimate direction of evolution from you, so you will not tear yourself apart in a short time."

After a pause, Ashford continued: "Professor Pang, I need your help."

"Need my help?"

Pang Xuelin was stunned.

Ashford's eyes glowed with hatred, and he said, "You should know that back then, my father, Old Ashford, collaborated with Mascu and Spencer to find the Progenitor Virus from West Africa and founded Umbrella. In the beginning, their goal was to use the special effects of the progenitor virus to find the future direction of human evolution and help humans overcome terminal diseases such as cancer and AIDS."

"But with the in-depth research on the ancestor virus, they found that this virus showed amazing potential in biochemical weapons. So in the future development direction of the company, my father, Mascu, and Spencer appeared Disagreement. At that time, a large part of Umbrella's R\u0026D department was my father's people. The scientists involved in this project all upheld my father's philosophy and hoped to contribute to the future of mankind through the study of the ancestor virus. "

"In the end, in order to realize their ambitions, they actually controlled my father in the laboratory, injected him with a virus, and used him as an experimental subject. Afterwards, they announced that my father actively participated in the human experiment, but the experiment failed. It led to my father's death. In order to appease the people belonging to my father's faction in the company, they pushed me out again and became the so-called Big Three of the umbrella company, but in fact, I was just a puppet in their hands. I was pushed out just to prevent turmoil in the company. The ridiculous thing is that I was still stupid at the time, thinking that my father really died because he actively participated in the experiment."

"Until later, I had another car accident, and in the car accident,

Although I lost my legs, I accidentally learned that all this was a conspiracy planned by Spencer and Mascu, and I realized that I was deceived by these two people. Later, Spencer's ambitions swelled, and he repeated his tricks to attack Mascu. I got the news in advance and deliberately disclosed the news to Mascu. This is the reason why Mascu was resurrected after ten years of fraudulent death. Over the years, the influence of the Ashford family in the Umbrella company has been declining, coupled with my daughter's relationship, these years, I have always held hatred in my heart. I originally wanted to use Mascu to revive and fight with Spencer, but I didn't expect that the two have reconciled now. They have met and decided to cooperate on the basis of your tube of blood and T virus. Develop a new generation of more powerful viruses..."

Pang Xuelin couldn't help but be taken aback, wondering: "Mascu and Spencer reconciled, why?"

Pang Xuelin, Mascu, and Spencer have all met. These two are not characters who are willing to be inferior to others.

Moreover, Spencer used his own hands to destroy the Irwin base under Mascu. The two should have even more hatred, so how could they join hands?

Ashford shook his head and said: "I don't know the specific reason, but this is what I saw with my own eyes, and although the Ashford family has not had much influence in the umbrella company over the years, there are still people in the umbrella company." Some people are loyal to the Ashford family. According to the news from my people, within the Umbrella Company, people loyal to Mascu and those loyal to Spencer are re-cooperating..."

After saying this, Ashford raised his head, stared at Pang Xuelin without blinking and said, "Professor Pang, only you can help me now..."

Pang Xuelin said expressionlessly: "Dr. Ashford, is your daughter still in Spencer's hands? Now you are persuading me to fight against Spencer, aren't you worried about your daughter's safety?"

Ashford showed a bit of bitterness on his face, and said: "Mascu and Spencer merged, and my power within the umbrella company is very limited. Now people are cutting me into fish, and our father and daughter are just puppets in his hands." , If I didn't still hold some key data about the T virus in my hands, I'm afraid I would have died. Now I have no choice but to strike out with anger, and it is possible to get rid of Spencer's control."

Pang Xuelin didn't make a sound, just looked at Ashford quietly.

"Professor Pang, don't you believe me?"

Pang Xuelin didn't speak, and after a while he said calmly: "Dr. Ashford, if I help you, what can you bring me?"

Ashford's eyes lit up, and he said, "Professor Pang, you came from the hive laboratory, you should know the horror of the T virus, but if I say that I have the weakness of the T virus in my hand, would you believe it? "

"The weakness of the T virus?"

Pang Xuelin was slightly taken aback.

Ashford nodded and said: "Spencer is generally talented in the field of technology. After Spencer 'killed' Mascu, the research on the T virus stagnated until I showed the genetics in the field of biology. My father's talent, so Spencer handed over the research work of the T virus to me. Although I have been developing a new generation of biochemical weapons according to Spencer's requirements over the years, such as the tyrant and the licker are all from It is my handwriting. But in the process of researching these weapons, I have been trying to find a way to crack the T virus, and I really found some clues..."

"What clue?"

"Professor Pang, you should have heard of non-coding RNA?"

Pang Xuelin nodded.

"Since Watson and Crick proposed the famous DNA double helix structure model in the 1950s, and later determined the central dogma of the flow of genetic information from DNA→RNA→protein, we have realized that the biological The complex structure and function are determined by the DNA sequence of a gene on the genome and the protein it expresses. Therefore, the gene on the genome is also called the coding sequence, which can encode the amino acid sequence of a protein."

"But with our further research, we found that the coding sequence on the genome (that is, the gene) actually only accounts for a small part of the genome. In the human genome, the coding sequence only accounts for 3%, and the remaining 100% Ninety-seven out of DNA sequences cannot encode any polypeptide or protein. This part of DNA is the so-called non-coding sequence. And with our research on many organisms, we found that lower organisms, such as viruses, Bacteria, etc., have only a few non-coding sequences in their bodies, while higher animals and plants contain a large number of non-coding sequences, which occupy most of the genome."

"The central dogma tells us that an important way for DNA in the genome to function is to transcribe and produce RNA. In recent years, our research has shown that most of the DNA in the genome can be transcribed into RNA. Therefore, non-coding RNA is At the same time, there is increasing evidence that these non-coding RNAs play a very important role in life activities. Two of the most prominent examples are RNA interference and miA Research."

"The study of RNA interference stems from the phenomenon of post-transcriptional gene silencing, which was first discovered in petunias and a few species of plants. This special phenomenon is manifested in the fact that when these plants are transgenic, the introduced genes and Its similar endogenous genes were all repressed, and further experiments showed that homologous transcription did occur, but was quickly degraded."

"Scientists have further studied the phenomenon of RNA interference and found that once dsRNA enters the cell, it will be cut into small interfering RNA (siRNA) fragments of 21 to 23 nucleotides in length by a specific enzyme called Dicer. A member of the Diase III family that can specifically recognize double-stranded RNA. It cleaves double-stranded RNA introduced by exogenous sources or by transgenes, virus infection, etc. in an ATP-dependent manner. The siRNA fragments produced by the cleavage are then combined with some enzymes Became the induced silencing complex. The activated silencing complex locates on the mRNA transcript homologous to the siRNA through base pairing, and cleaves the mRNA at a certain position from the 3' end of the siRNA, so that it is compatible with the mRNA The corresponding genes are silenced. A large number of studies have shown that RNA interference widely exists in various organisms from fungi to plants, from invertebrates to mammals, and even in some lower prokaryotes."

"A scientist in the hive laboratory once put forward the idea that gene silencing may be a defense mechanism used by organisms to resist transposons or RNA viruses during the evolution of organisms. Ancient antiviral strategies that may have been around even before the divergence of plants and animals."

Pang Xuelin had a thoughtful expression on his face, and said, "You mean, the study of gene silencing may help us find a way to fight RNA viruses?"

Ashford shook his head and said: "Gene silencing can only make humans immune to some RNA viruses, so that surviving humans can avoid being infected by T virus and its homologous viruses in the future. If we really want to eliminate T virus, we There is still a long way to go.”

Pang Xuelin laughed and said, "Didn't you just say that besides RNA interference, there is also miA? Tell me about this RNA."

Ashford nodded and said: "In the 1980s, not long after I took over the hive laboratory, in a study, an experimental group under me used gene targeting technology to study the effects of certain genes on nematodes. The impact on development. We found a gene that significantly interferes with development. Normally, nematodes go through four larval stages to mature. The mutation of this gene can make its development only stay in the first stage. Then, to our surprise, this The gene also does not encode any protein, but only one miA."

"And this miA actually inhibited the T virus in nematodes to a certain extent."

"Then we found that this miA was a member of a large family of non-coding RNAs, and over the years, Umbrella's labs had discovered thousands of non-coding RNA molecules that formed a network of interactions, Participated in the regulation of life activities in cells, they correspond to protein-protein interaction networks, just like dark matter and bright matter in cosmology. Before, in the life sciences, we always thought that the functions of biology were realized by proteins, Therefore, we have conducted a lot of research centered on proteins, and discovered a large number of pathways and related networks about protein production, regulation and metabolism. With the large-scale discovery of non-coding RNAs and their biological functions, it will help us find To the interaction network between non-coding RNAs and proteins..."

Ashford paused, and said: "Even, I think the antidote to the T virus is hidden in thousands of non-coding RNAs. It depends on whether we can find it out."

Pang Xuelin looked at Ashford quietly, and after a long time, he stretched out his hand and smiled, "Dr. Ashford, it's a pleasant cooperation."

Ashford was slightly taken aback, and said with a smile on his face, "Professor Pang, happy cooperation!"