Chapter 627 Evolution (Part 2)
The next day, early in the morning.
It was just dawn in Manila.
In the conference hall hosting the Human Evolution Conference, many people have already arrived, and they are discussing the topic of today's meeting in groups of three or five.
As soon as Fujita Takashi came online, he was stopped by Dr. Osiris from the Venus Life Research Institute.
"Fujita, long time no see."
Fujita Ang looked surprised: "Teacher Muxi, you are here to participate in this seminar? Why didn't I see you yesterday?"
"I was doing an experiment yesterday and couldn't leave." Muxi explained, then asked with a smile: "Fujita, I heard that you are studying six-clawed people?"
This is not a secret. It was kept secret before. Now that the company has made the existence of the six-clawed civilization public, he naturally has no scruples and nodded slightly:
"Yes, Mr. Muxi, we have been doing research for almost two years. I am currently responsible for studying the plants of the six-clawed civilization."
Muxi was a little curious: "What are the characteristics of the plants of the six-clawed civilization?"
Fujita organized his words: "How should I put it... The plants of the six-clawed civilization do not rely on photosynthesis, but on geothermal heat. They do not have chloroplasts, but use a structure called thermal cell wall..."
After listening to Fujita's explanation, Muxi stroked his stubble thoughtfully: "Some of the underground creatures on Venus also have similar structures. It seems that convergent evolution exists even across other galaxies."
"Teacher, today's topic is the combination of artificial organs and genes. What do you think?"
"My view is very simple. If we want to go into the universe, there is no hope of relying on natural evolution in a short period of time." Muxi hit the key point in one sentence.
Upon hearing this, Fujita Takashi deeply agreed.
When studying the development process of the six-clawed civilization in depth, Fujita knew that it would be extremely difficult for humans to evolve from single-planet creatures to cosmic creatures.
Even for the six-clawed people who have developed in the space field for more than 100,000 years, their genetic evolution path is actually very bumpy and dangerous.
Just as the two of them were chatting.
Li Qingye and Tian Hemeng also arrived.
Just like yesterday, Li Qingye got straight to the point: "Everyone, today's seminar topic is the combination of artificial organs and genes. As we all know, with the development of the times, we will inevitably move towards the model of cosmic creatures."
"I believe that cosmic life must have five capabilities: first, long-term stable biological internal circulation; second, it must be able to resist various rays and high-energy particles in the universe; third, it must have the ability to directly obtain life energy and nutrients from the universe; fourth, it must have the ability to fly in a vacuum and change orbits; fifth, it must have the ability to communicate over long distances."
"Obviously, these five standards are too high. With the current human condition, with the help of biological armor, we can only barely achieve a small part of them. Therefore, today, civilization will discuss how to completely turn biological armor into a part of human genes."
After Li Qingye threw out the idea, others did not want to be outdone and expressed their own ideas one after another.
In the audience.
Fujita told his teacher Muxi about his idea: "Teacher, if we use the chromosome method to edit the genes of all biological base armors and create a pair of new chromosomes, can we turn biological base armors into human genes?"
However, Muxi shook his head and said, "Fujita, your idea is good, but it is too conservative. I think we should adopt a diploid structure and double the number of human chromosomes."
"What? Double the number of chromosomes? But this will probably affect reproduction, right?" Fujita Takashi thought with a frown.
Another researcher beside him patted him on the shoulder and said, "Junior brother, have you forgotten what I'm researching?"
Fujita looked at his senior brother Zhang Yuan, whom he hadn't seen for a long time. "Senior brother, has your research on human asexual reproduction been successful?"
Zhang Yuan pulled out a paper with pride. "This is what I and several colleagues researched some time ago. It's called the Reproduction Control System. It's modulated using various genes. If we can transform it into a pair of chromosomes that specifically manage reproduction , then not only can we double the number of chromosomes, but we can also make triploids and tetraploids reproduce. I've done related experiments on polyploid animals."
Fujita Akira and Muxi were very surprised, and they hurriedly looked through the paper.
After watching it, the two realized that the technology Zhang Yuan was researching was very powerful. It was equivalent to artificially creating a new pair of XY chromosomes, and it also drew on the genetic reproduction patterns of other animals and plants.
Zhang Yuan explained: "This is part of the technology that the company plans to provide for the individual reproduction system in the future."
The master and his two disciples continued their discussion.
Many researchers who had already made theoretical preparations took turns to come on stage to present their ideas.
While listening, Li Qingye summarized the views of all parties.
There are three hypothetical lines of evolution in current theory.
One is the gene replacement theory, which is to remove some useless genes from the original human gene sequence and replace them with gene sequences that can adapt to the universe.
One is the theory of gene increment, which is to add a new gene sequence to the original gene sequence of human beings so that human beings can adapt to life in the universe.
One is the theory of extreme evolution, which allows human genes to mutate naturally in the cosmic environment by accelerating mutation, thereby screening out some usable cosmic genes, and then adding them to human genes through genetic recombination.
Among them, the chromosome doubling concept proposed by Muxi, Fujita and others is one of the branches of the gene increment theory.
At present, each theory has its own reasons .
Li Qingye did not directly specify any one as the future direction. His idea was to let a hundred flowers bloom.
Anyway, the resources of the Sapiens company are relatively sufficient, and the three routes can proceed in parallel. Even if only one is suitable in the end, they can promote each other under fierce competition.
Even Li Qingye did not dare to easily conclude which technological route was the future of human evolution.
On the road of evolution, Homo sapiens has no goals to learn from or refer to.
The six-clawed people are also only half cosmic creatures. In the vacuum environment of the universe, they have no way to separate themselves from their auxiliary equipment and space suits.
Therefore, Li Qingye plans to invest in all three approaches.
However, he personally prefers the chromosome doubling theory, which proposes doubling the number of chromosomes without greatly changing the original gene sequence, and controlling the newly added organs through the gene sequences of these newly added chromosomes.
At present, the seminar has preliminarily identified the "internal circulation organ", "photosynthetic cortical organ", "energy storage organ", "compressed gas jet organ", "long-distance communication organ", "mineral decomposition and absorption organ", and "anti-radiation and anti-high-energy particle shell organ".
These seven new organs have been formally launched into research projects.
These new organs certainly cannot be controlled by the original human gene sequence, but must be controlled by new gene sequences.
This is consistent with the theory of chromosome increment, and they can be combined with each other to edit the genes of the newly added organs and then combine them into new chromosomes.
This is also the reason why Li Qingye is more optimistic about the chromosome increment theory, because the two are easier to combine.
