The consortium of Life Sciences Society announced the top ten progress of life sciences in China in 2017

In order to promote the innovation and development in the field of life science, fully display and publicize the major scientific and technological achievements in the field of life science in China, 22 member societies organized by the association of life sciences of the Chinese Association for science and technology recommended by the association, reviewed and selected by peer experts in the field of life science, released the 2017 "top ten advances in China's life science" selection results to the society (ranking in no particular order) The discovery and mechanism analysis of genetic basis of new broad-spectrum disease resistance in rice blast is known as "rice cancer", which has ravaged all rice producing areas all the year round, causing a significant reduction in rice production or even crop failure, which is a major hidden danger of global food security Using big data analysis and molecular biotechnology, Chen Xuewei research group of Sichuan Agricultural University identified and cloned the resistance genetic locus bsr-d1, which revealed that the locus had the characteristics of broad resistance spectrum, long resistance and no significant impact on rice yield On the one hand, the research results greatly enriched the theoretical basis of rice immune response and disease resistance molecules, on the other hand, it provided key resistance genes for the cultivation of new rice varieties with broad-spectrum and long-lasting resistance to rice blast At the same time, it also provides an important reference for the basic and applied research of new disease resistance mechanism of wheat, corn and other food crops The results were published in cell, 2017, 170 (1): 114-126 The molecular mechanism of resistance to rice blast at bsr-d1 gene locus in Rice (source: cell) the male sterility caused by mutation of human piwi gene is a social problem of great concern Piwi gene is specifically expressed in male testis, but its role in human spermatogenesis and male infertility is unknown Liu Mofang research group of Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and cell biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Shi Huijuan research group of Shanghai Institute of family planning, screened and found a kind of piwi gene mutation from male infertility patients, and proved that the mutation led to male sterility and revealed the molecular mechanism of this mutation leading to male sterility through mouse model, and based on this design The intervention strategy effectively restored the sperm activity of the mutant mice This study proved for the first time that piwi gene mutation leads to male infertility, and provided theoretical basis and method strategy for precise medical treatment of this kind of male infertility The results were published in cell, 2017, 169 (6): 1090-1104 Piwi gene mutation from oligoasthenia / azoospermia leads to male / male sterility (source: cell) m6A methylation to regulate the fate of hematopoietic stem cells in vertebrates Hematopoietic stem cells are the original progenitor cells of all kinds of blood cells They not only maintain the long-term stability of blood system, but also are the core components of bone marrow transplantation in the treatment of malignant blood diseases However, their lack of resources is the bottleneck of clinical disease treatment Liu Feng research group, Institute of zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Yang Yungui research group, Beijing Institute of genomics, conducted the research for the first time They found that the methylation regulated gene expression balance of m6A in the process of endothelial hematopoietic cell transformation and promoted the development of hematopoietic stem cells This work reveals the mechanism of fate determination of hematopoietic stem cells from a new perspective, expands people's cognition of the physiological function of m6A, and provides new ideas for exploring the source of hematopoietic stem cells in vitro The findings were published in nature (nature, 2017, 549: 273-276) The m6A modification level of notch 1A mRNA promotes endothelial hematopoietic cell transformation (source: nature) Chemotherapy drugs induce cell scorching by Caspase-3, which produces toxic side effects Cell scorching is a kind of cellular inflammatory necrosis that occurs by cutting gasdermin-d (gsdmd) protein by inflammatory caspase protease, which makes gsdmd protein release its structure with cell membrane perforation activity Shaofeng research team of Beijing Institute of Life Sciences found that apoptotic rather than inflammatory caspase-3 protease cleavage and activation of gasdermin-e (gsdme) protein can also induce cell scorching Commonly used chemotherapy drugs kill normal cells through the scorching of cells dependent on gsdme Knockout of gsdme gene in mice can significantly reduce organ damage and weight loss caused by chemotherapy drugs Use These findings are the first to reveal the molecular mechanism of toxic and side effects of chemotherapy drugs, providing a new way to improve the efficiency of chemotherapy The findings were published in nature (nature, 2017, 547: 99-103) The molecular mechanism that gsdme determines that chemotherapeutics induce apoptosis of cancer cells and apoptosis of normal cells respectively, and that glucose is the main energy source of cells The decrease of glucose level will activate amp activated protein kinase (AMPK) Lin Shengcai research group of Xiamen University and D.G Hardie of Dundee University reported a new mechanism of activating AMPK by sensing the decrease of intracellular glucose metabolism intermediate fructose-1,6-diphosphate (FBP) This study revealed the glucose sensing pathway of cells and the mechanism of glucose controlling the metabolic state of cells It also overturned the traditional paradigm that AMPK was activated due to the increase of AMP The results were published in nature (nature, 2017, 548: 112-116) The mechanism of glucose level determining cell and metabolic growth state (source: nature) based on single cell sequencing of liver cancer immune map, the number of patients with liver cancer in China ranks first in the world, becoming one of the health threats in China Zhang Zemin research group of Peking University, Peng Jirun and Ouyang Wenjun of Beijing Shijitan Hospital, conducted a comprehensive analysis of T lymphocytes in the tumor microenvironment of liver cancer, completed the single cell sequencing data of more than 5000 T lymphocytes, revealed the different characteristics of T cells in blood and tumor, explored the relationship between different subsets of T lymphocytes, and found that In addition, in vitro experiments further proved that the layilin gene might be a potential target of immunotherapy This work is the first time in the world to study tumor-related T-lymphocytes in single cell histology, which lays a foundation for multi angle understanding of the characteristics of liver cancer-related T-lymphocytes, and also makes a paradigm for the outline of tumor immune map, and becomes an important basis for similar research on other tumors This achievement was published in cell Journal (cell, 2017, 169 (7): 1342-1356) single cell sequencing of tumor infiltrating immune cells (source: cell) Rice blast is the most serious disease of rice and the "cancer" of rice production It is listed as the top ten fungal diseases It is the bottleneck of rice breeding to explore new broad-spectrum and long-lasting blast resistance genes, balance the relationship between disease resistance and yield He Zuhua research group, Institute of plant physiology and ecology, Shanghai Academy of Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, systematically identified and analyzed the new broad-spectrum blast resistance gene pigm in rice It was found that the gene site coordinated the new mechanism of broad-spectrum disease resistance and yield balance through protein interaction and epigenetic subtle regulation of a pair of immune receptor proteins pigmr and pigms, and proposed a new theory for the contradiction between high resistance and yield, It also provides effective technology for crop disease resistance breeding This achievement has been applied in disease resistant molecular breeding by more than 40 units, and many new broad-spectrum disease resistant varieties have been approved and widely promoted, which has great application potential The results were published in Science (2017, 355: 962-965) Comparison of the disease onset and functional model of a new disease resistant cultivar (NIL pigm) and a control (nipb) in a natural disease nursery Under the leadership of academician Cheng Heping, the interdisciplinary R & D team of Peking University has made breakthroughs in the development of high-resolution body imaging system by using micro integration, micro optics, ultrafast fiber laser, semiconductor optoelectronics and other technologies It has successfully developed a 2.2g micro wearable two-photon fluorescence microscope, which is the first record in the world of tail suspension, platform jumping, social interaction, etc The high-speed and high-resolution images of the activity of neurons and synapses in the mouse brain under natural behavior conditions This breakthrough technology will open up a new research paradigm Under the condition of animal natural behavior, it can not only "see" the process of brain activity, but also play an important role in visualizing the neural mechanism of brain diseases such as autism, Alzheimer's disease and epilepsy This achievement reflects that life scientists in China have the ability to develop the whole system of cutting-edge scientific research instruments and equipment, and has created a core innovation tool for the upcoming Chinese brain science program The results were published in the journal natural methods (2017, 14: 713 – 719) Mice head wear miniaturized two-photon microscope to observe the nerve activity under the condition of free behavior (source: Nature Methods) Itching is an important way for human and animals to perceive external threats, and plays an important role in maintaining the survival and health of the body However, chronic pruritus can lead to serious skin damage, depression, sleep disorders and so on The neural mechanism of itching has always been a big mystery in neuroscience Sun Yangang research group, Institute of neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences, started from the GRPR positive neurons at the spinal cord level to prove the core neural circuit of itch information transmission, and further confirmed that the brain area of brainstem parabrachial nucleus plays a key role in the occurrence and development of chronic itching This study systematically elucidates the neural loop mechanism of itch information transmission, and provides a new direction for finding potential therapeutic targets of chronic itch The results were published in Science (2017, 357: 695-699) The cell and loop mechanism of itch information transmission (source: Science) Chinese scholars first established the gene editor rat syndrome monkey model rat syndrome (RTT) is a neurodevelopmental disease caused by MeCP2 single gene mutation Patients with mental retardation, poor autonomous behavior and survival ability need lifelong care from family and society In order to better study the pathogenesis of the disease, and then develop treatment drugs and explore treatment methods, scientists have constructed a series of rodent experimental animal models, such as mice, rats and so on However, these rodent models are difficult to simulate the clinical characteristics of patients, and cannot carry out relevant research Using talen targeted gene editing technology, Ji Weizhi research group of Kunming University of science and technology knocked out MECP2 gene of cynomolgus monkey and obtained a batch of rhesus monkey models They show many clinical phenotypes similar to Rett's syndrome that have not been found in rodents This study is also the first time to evaluate the rat model of Rett syndrome from brain development, eye movement, transcriptome and so on, which lays a foundation for the research of pathogenesis and treatment of Rett syndrome The results were published in cell Journal (cell, 2017, 169 (5): 945-955) rhesus monkey model construction, phenotype analysis and significance diagram (source: cell)