The Chinese Academy of Sciences has interpreted the "programming language" that directs gene expression in human embryos for the first time in the world.

Reporters learned today from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing Genomics Research Institute and other units, the first time in the international interpretation of the command of human embryo gene expression of the "programming language", the relevant paper published on March 9 in the international top journal "Cells."
Liu Jiang, a researcher at the Beijing Genomics Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Chen Zijiang, a team of affiliated reproductive hospitals of Shandong University, and Liu Wenqiao of Guangzhou Medical University, worked together to overcome the difficult problem of lack of research materials, established a research method of trace cells, and studied the activation mechanism of the human embryo genome for the first time in the world.
"The two days after human fertilization are very special, and there are huge differences between cells and all cells in other periods of human life, during which the embryos have little gene expression."
how to start expressing people's genes, which genes are expressed first, which ones are expressed later, has long been a difficult task.
," Liu said. liu Jiang and others
have found a key molecule that initiates human genome expression, and the first genes (old genes) that appear in evolutionary history are first expressed, while the last genes are often expressed later.
is the cell-setter procedure, which allows the old gene's regulatory switch to be turned on first.
the study also reveals an important new mechanism for human evolution.
a fragment in the DNA sequence, called a transposon, it often jumps from one region to another, and the beat produces a DNA mutation that causes human evolution.
researchers in the study determined that the transposon is an important cause of human evolution, is that it is mainly in the embryo active state, so that the human genome produces new mutations.
and only mutations produced in the embryo are more likely to be passed on to future generations, leading to human evolution. Xue Yongxuan, a member of the
National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and director of the Beijing Genomics Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, believes the results will help people better understand the mechanism of birth defects and have important potential clinical value.
", for example, can be early to fertilize the egg stage, the embryo can be found possible malformations, which is important to prevent birth defects, to protect the health of the population.
", he added, this year's government work report mentioned that the country's investment in science and technology should be tilted towards people's livelihood.
Chinese Academy of Sciences as a scientific and technological "national team", should be more in these areas to carry out scientific research, do more "groundgas" work.
know how a fertilized egg develops into a person is one of the biggest problems in life science.
scientists already know that development requires genes to be expressed in an orderly manner at a given time and place in a set process, and that errors in gene expression can lead to deformities and developmental defects in newborns.
as a country with high incidence of birth defects, about 900,000 children with birth defects are born in China every year, which places a heavy mental and economic burden on the family and seriously threatens the country's population health.
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