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    Home > Food News > Food Articles > National Key Laboratory of Bio-Molecules: In Large Molecules

    National Key Laboratory of Bio-Molecules: In Large Molecules

    • Last Update: 2021-03-11
    • Source: Internet
    • Author: User
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    (1) Researcher Zhang hong(2) Researcher Chen Chang(3) Researcher Li Guohong (left) and Researcher Zhu Ping at the 30nm chromatin fiber structure release (4) Researcher Liu Zhenfeng (5) FEI Tecnai 20 transmission electron microscope(6) Researcher Zhu Bing (middle) and studentsput on white coats, put on blue gloves, sitting in front of the frozen electric mirror, to explore the most "micro" and "wonderful" structure of life, seeking the most "fine" "deep" mystery of life - this mysterious even some sacred mission, in the biological macro-molecular national key laboratory, but every day in the daily work.the function of the structure, the function reflects the structure-the subtle relationship between the structure and the function, is the eternal theme of life science.
    the development of the national key laboratory of biological large molecules in the past 30 years, it is from the traditional advantages of structural biology that it has gradually moved towards the fusion and development of functional research and structural research.
    1989, the Institute of Biophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the Institute of Biophysics) applied for the establishment of the "National Key Laboratory of Biometrics" on the basis of the original Open Laboratory of Molecular Enzymatics. At that time, the three main research directions of the key laboratory - molecular enzymatics, structural biology and biofilm, respectively, led by three academics, Zhai Chenglu, Liang Dongshi, Yang Fuyu, at home and abroad have a certain cutting-edge advantage.
    with the rapid development of the international life science field and the rapid development of structural biology technology, people began to re-examine the research direction of key laboratories.
    "It used to take years to analyze a molecular structure, and then it took only a few weeks for researchers to think: Why should we study this molecule?" What are the really important biological questions behind the structure? Xu Ruiming, director of the Institute of Biophysics, said.
    2011, the academic committee of the National Key Laboratory of Biometrics proposed to re-hone the discipline. After a series of explorations and practices, the new four research directions are gradually taking shape: membrane protein structure and function research, protein structure and functional basis for the occurrence and defense of important diseases, molecular mechanism of chromosomal structure, epigenetic regulation and cell fate decision, and regulatory mechanism of cell endometrial system formation and steady state maintenance.
    "Just look at the name and you can feel a strong 'functional' taste. Chen Chang, deputy director of the National Key Laboratory of Biomedicals, explains, "Functionally related research is much more complex than traditional structural biology, equivalent to moving from static to dynamic, from local to system - which places higher demands on the size and quality of the research team." "
    this end, the National Key Laboratory for Biomedicals has consciously schemed the layout in terms of attracting and employing people." On the one hand, based on the traditional advantages of the field, training the original talent, the introduction of relevant talent, on the other hand, seize the opportunity to introduce a particular field of outstanding talent, and then around him to build a new team. At the same time, it is enough to give the talents of structural research and functional research the opportunity of cross-cutting and communication. Xu Ruiming said."I've been doing research in the U.S. until I returned home, when I made a breakthrough at the National Key Laboratory for Biomedicals. Li Guohong, deputy director of the National Key Laboratory of Biological Molecules, said.
    30 nanometer chromosome fibers has been a problem for scientists for more than 40 years. He told China Science Daily, "The skin cells, the nerve cells, the muscle cells... Their DNA sequences or genetic information are the same, but they can selectively read and express different DNA sequences or genetic information to form completely different cell estypes. This so-called 'selective reading and expression' question, which is difficult to answer with classical genetic theory, can only be answered from the carrier of genetic information in the nuclei of the cell, chromosomes and their structure. For
    , the advanced structure of chromosomes and their dynamic regulation have been like a "black box". Due to the limitations of research techniques and the lack of sample preparation methods, scientists are faced with this chromatin fiber about 30 nanometers in diameter, just as blind people feel like they are helpless.
    Fortunately, in the National Key Laboratory of Biomedicals, Li Guohong, who has long studied chromatin structure and oscic genetics, and Zhu Ping, who specializes in cryoelectrome technology, and Xu Ruiming, who specializes in structural analysis, form a combative team. At the same time, under the strong support of Xu Tao, then director, and other leaders, the electro-mirror platform of the National Key Laboratory of Bio-Molecules purchased the most advanced frozen electro-mirrors of the time, creating superior experimental conditions for the team.
    the addition of "man and man", the scientists finally got a 30 nanometer chromatin fiber structure with a resolution of up to 11 E, revealing a new left-handed double helix structure formed by the distortion of four small nuclear bodies. At the same time, a "hismoglobin companion" molecule called "FACT" selectively turns on this "four-core small body structure unit".
    "This is equivalent to a specific 'switch' that regulates gene expression," he said. Li Guohong said, "When four nucleosomes fold together to form a 'four-core small body structure unit', this gene is in a relatively tight inhibitory state, when 'FACT' turns them on, it can promote gene transcription and expression on this chromatin fragment."
    This achievement, published in the journal Science in 2014, caused a sensation in the international academic circles, not only was selected as "the major innovation achievements of the Chinese Academy of Sciences since the 18th National Congress" and "the Chinese Academy of Sciences '12th Five-Year Plan' landmark major progress core achievements", but also has been included in a number of well-known domestic and foreign undergraduate teaching materials in biochemistry and cell biology.analysis of 30 nanometer chromosome fiber structure once again shows the great energy of the strong union of structural research and functional research, scientific research personnel and technical personnel. And the national key laboratory of biological large molecules, continue to be in the introduction of talent and matching on the "careful calculation."
    2014, the National Key Laboratory of Biomedicals received a job application and resume from Zhang New Deal, who specializes in cryo-mirror research. Among the many applicants, his published papers are not particularly prominent, but Zhang Hong, deputy director of the National Key Laboratory for Biomedicals, said after reading his material: "I have to meet this man." In
    interview, Mr. Zhang was impressed by an experience in which, as a postdoctoral student in the United States, he parsed a viral structure and found that the nucleic acid sequences analyzed from the structure were different from the sequencing data in the database. After checking, it turned out that the information in the database was wrong.
    " can be derived from the nucleic acid sequence by the cryo-mirror signal, indicating that his technical means, data quality and algorithm are extremely strong. Zhu Bing, deputy director of the Institute of Biophysics, who was involved in the interview at the time, recalled, "We said at the time that such a person had to because he had a great skill." After
    new chapter, he worked closely with scientists in key laboratories who specialize in structural biology, producing a series of important results in just a few years.
    In 2016, Zhang New Deal and Liu Zhenfeng Research Group, Chang Wenrui/Li Mei Research Group, working together for the first time in the world, analyzed the three-dimensional structure of the optical system II-optical complex II super-membrane protein complex of higher plants, and the results were selected as the "Top Ten Scientific and Technological Progresses in China in 2016".
    " traditional crystallology methods will not solve the problem. Liu Zhenfeng, deputy director of the National Key Laboratory of Biomodyme, said: "The reason why we are able to make other people's achievements in response to traditional problems in the field is largely due to the importance and accumulation of talent, technical methods and equipment by biophysics institutes." This
    this attention is reflected not only in the thirst for technical research and development personnel such as Zhang New Deal, but also in the attention and investment of biophysical institutes to build an international first-class research platform for biomosmod molecules.If the spirit of science and the spirit of exploration are the "road" of scientific research, then advanced instruments and superb technology are the "instrument" of scientific research - "road" and "instrument" are indispensable and cannot be separated.
    " structure and function, science and technology, like the 'two legs' on the road to scientific research - one leg goes out and the other naturally keeps up. Xu Hai, director of the Science and Technology Branch of the Institute of Biophysics, said.
    has a profound and unique understanding of this, both at the Institute of Biophysics and at the National Key Laboratory for Biomns. Early in the establishment of the Institute of Biophysics, many advanced scientific research instruments embargoed China. Biophysical Institute not only opened factories, independent research and development and production of centrifuges, microscopes, X-ray machines and other equipment, but also open to all units in need.
    with the development of the times, these factories gradually disbanded, but the biophysical emphasis on instrument technology, the importance of equipment sharing cultural heritage. "At the same time, biophysics' emphasis on cross-disciplinary traditions, as well as the diversity of people's subject backgrounds, has helped the Institute to stay at the forefront of technological exploration and equipment openness. Xu Tao
    director of the National Key Laboratory of Biomodynames, is committed to the development of photoelectronic fusion ultra-resolution bio-microimaging system, and presided over the first batch of major scientific research instruments of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. After more than 4 years, developed a leading international level of equipment-level system, and in the field of ultra-resolution imaging has made a series of related research results. Because the project is progressing smoothly and the results are outstanding, it has been listed by the National Natural Science Foundation of China as the first research project to finish the project one year ahead of schedule.
    Sun Fei researcher has been developing cryoelectrical mirror technology since he graduated from his Ph.D. to the Institute of Biophysics. Under his leadership, he has established a series of international leading cryoelectric technology with independent intellectual property rights and remarkable originality, and created the Bioimaging Center, the strongest cryoelectral technology support institution in the field of basic research of life in China.
    in 2015, Li Dong, a researcher working on ultra-resolution imaging, took biophysical imaging technology to the next level, and his invention of the skimming structure optical ultra-resolution imaging technology was named china's top ten scientific advances in 2018.
    in the national major scientific research infrastructure and large-scale scientific research instruments open sharing evaluation assessment, biophysics institute for two consecutive years ranked first. Relying on the establishment of the
    protein scientific research platform, known as scientific research instruments shared "industry benchmark" one.
    " platform is actually an important support for the National Key Laboratory of Bio-Molecules. Xu Ruiming said.
    the introduction of state-of-the-art instruments and equipment for the most professional management and use, these practices help key laboratories into a benign development model.
    " in recent years, many high-profile research results, are inseparable from the biophysical device platform layout. Jiang Tao, a researcher at the Institute of Biophysics, said, "We have also helped a number of domestic units to build advanced instrument platforms, including the Shanghai University of Science and Technology's electro-mirror platform, which made important contributions to rao Zi and Wang Xiangxi's team's analysis of the particle structure of the African swine fever virus last year." In
    Xu Ruiming's view, the characteristics of the National Key Laboratory of Bio-Molecules" are "structurally and functionally important, and science and technology go hand in hand" has never changed. "There are so many areas of life sciences that no one can cover the world. All we can do is continue to plough deep in our own most distinctive places. He said.say structural biologists are particularly prone to writing, as long as they "shoot for a place" and have their own molecular structure waiting for them to parse. But in the National Key Laboratory of Biomedicals, which started with structural biology, people don't think so.
    1998, Liu Zhenfeng came to the Biophysical Institute's Changwenrui Task Force and became a graduate student. Under the guidance of his mentor, he chose a highly challenging subject - the crystallization and structural analysis of spinach's light-trapping complex.
    , which is widely found in green plants, is one of the most abundant membrane proteins on Earth. Scientists are familiar with it and unfamiliar with it -- there was no high-resolution structure for the plant-capture complex at the time, and it is expected that the study will lead to an early breakthrough that will lead to a detailed analysis of the energy transfer path in the complex.
    the difficulty of this subject can be imagined, there is a brother kindly advised Liu Zhenfeng: "This subject is too difficult, may not be able to do, be careful to delay your graduation!" "
    but Liu Zhenfeng stuck to it." I just think it's interesting and meaningful." In the course of his research, he encountered many difficulties, one shell is nearly 4 years. Finally, nearly a year after the delay in graduation, a paper published in Nature analyzed the fine three-dimensional structure of the spinach light-trapping complex, with a resolution of 2.72 E. The work is highly recognized by international peers, and there are still new published studies citing their papers published that year and using structural data they upload to protein databases.
    "It made me feel the importance of my work, and in my conversations with scientists in the fields of molecular genetics and biochemistry, I found that they urgently needed the results of structural biology to promote their work." Liu Zhenfeng said.
    In 2016, Liu Zhenfeng, who has become a researcher at the Institute of Biophysics, once again made a major breakthrough in Nature, leading the team to successfully apply a single-particle frozen electroscope method to analyze the three-dimensional structure of spinach light system II-light capture complex II super complex, which was also selected as one of china's top ten scientific and technological advances in 2016.
    12 years apart, two "Nature" papers, stringing together Liu Zhenfeng's scientific research years - "I would rather, under the guidance of scientific issues, in the field of photodeading to make a system of work." Wang
    , a researcher at the Institute of Biophysics in China, is also deeply aware of this.
    1980s, Zhai Chenglu and others carried out "the study of insulin A and B chain interaction" in biophysical institutes. Meanwhile, Wang Zhizhen uses the protein disulfur bond isomerase PDI to help insulin recombine and fold. In 1993, Wang Zhizhen and Zhai Chenglu jointly put forward the hypothesis: "PDI is both an enzyme and a molecular companion", and further provided a series of informative experimental evidence for the hypothesis. But there's a question that's always hard to answer - what mechanisms have contributed to the functioning and transformation of PDI?
    In March 2020, a new study by Wang Lei et al. showed that a phosphate molecular switch can determine the transformation of two functions of PDI, which is important for cells to survive under endoensurant stress conditions -- this
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