How the Zergs were Made

Chapter 5 Surgery

First of all, it is to untwist first, to untie the messy core.

Soon, the single-cell DNA chain was unreservedly presented in front of Huo Gu.

The next step is 'interception', cutting out the part of the gene chain that expresses the phage, which is a very delicate task, especially for Huogu who doesn't even have hands and feet now.

Carefully control the restriction endonuclease output of the enzyme to ensure that it does not damage other parts of the gene chain. At the same time, rely on instructions to remotely control the single cell and use the flow of cytoplasm to limit the restriction enzyme to the gene fragment that needs to be excised.

This kind of behavior is tantamount to writing with saliva, and it is still written on the water.

Oops!

With the appearance of Huogu's frustration, the restriction enzyme that misoperated was cut across the way, and other gene fragments were also cut down. of exhaustion.

Subsequently, in the ligase secreted instinctively by single cells, these fragmentary gene fragments are joined to each other, and once again combined into a complete gene chain.

However, Huo Gu knew that it was no longer possible for this greatly altered gene chain to reproduce the original single cell.

Huogu again selected new cells in the single-cell cluster as the target of 'surgery'.

The failure just now didn't give Huo Gu much of a blow to his confidence. He never thought he was a genius, and even felt that he was a little stupider than ordinary people, but he read a little more books than others.

The operation starts over.

This time, learning from the previous lesson, Huogu used the restriction enzymes in single cells more carefully, greatly reducing the amount of restriction enzymes, and focused most of his attention on the movement of the cytoplasm.

Let the flow of the cytoplasm guide those restriction enzymes to cut out the designated gene fragments, and at the same time, after the cutting is completed, it is just exhausted.

fail……

fail……

fail……

...

fail……

success!

very good.

Just as Huogu firmly believed, it succeeded. After losing nearly a hundred cells, the gene fragment of the phage was cut out.

The next step is to connect, this part is relatively simple, Huogu remotely controlled the cell, and used the flow of cytoplasm to restrict the gene fragment expressing the phage to a certain area.

Then, relying on ligase, the DNA that was divided into two sections after the operation can be recombined into one to form a brand new gene chain.

beginning to split

Under Huo Gu's command, the cloned body cells that have undergone successful surgery began to gradually divide into new individuals.

Soon, a new individual of a single-cell cluster appeared, but this new individual still had some unexpected situations.

That is the 'cell wall'.

The replicator cells are covered with a shell. Compared with the cell membrane, this shell is stronger and has a certain degree of elasticity, which can give the protective cells sufficient growth space.

this……

Why?

Huogu thought for a while, not very sure.

Is it because of the expression of the incomplete phage gene?

That operation did not completely cut out the phage gene, Huogu only cut off the part of the gene fragment that expresses the virulent phage that he learned before.

Anyway, the incomplete gene expression is also incomplete, and it is impossible to transcribe the phage.

Risking the reappearance of virulent phages for a perfect excision?

At that time, Huogu thought about it, and he decided to forget it. He is not a perfectionist, so there is no need to do that kind of death.

Didn't expect this to happen...

The cell wall is necessary because the main function of the cell wall is to protect the cell.

A simple understanding is that the civilians put on steel armor, and their defense is not the same as before.

Originally, Huogu planned to start making cell walls after solving the phage matter, but now...

Huo Gu was in a tangle.

It's not that it doesn't like such surprises, but, after all, it's an 'accidental' cell wall, and it's hard to say whether it can meet the requirements it wants.

It's decided, let's observe for a while.

Huogu made up his mind in this way, turned his attention to other single cells, and started the operation.

With the first successful case, there will naturally be a second and third time. After a while, Huogu has already made perfect with practice, and the success rate of cutting gene fragments has stabilized at more than 80%.

During this period, Huo Gu thought of a way to break the connection of protein structures, that is, to rely on division to create new replicas between the two connected single cells to squeeze out the old single cells.

This is somewhat similar to the principle of the Ship of Theseus, gradually replacing those old single cells without affecting normal thinking.

Huo Gu, who thought so, did indeed do so.

As the last infected single cell was replaced, the sense of crisis disappeared and was replaced by an incomparable sense of peace. After all, there was no longer anything that could threaten it.

Pack up your mood, Huo Gu has not forgotten that his current thinking carrier is just a group of insignificant single-cell clusters, which is a lower-level life form than the plants at the bottom of the food chain.

Huogu thought that when he was still a human being, he had at least 100 million ways to wipe out the current single-cell cluster, and when his thoughts wandered here, he shuddered.

It's too fragile. I still need to continue to optimize these single cells.

Huo Gu, who had established his goal, began to analyze the unexpected 'surprises'. If the effect of these cell walls is not satisfactory, then it is necessary to undergo another operation to completely remove the gene fragments of the phage, and then rebuild to meet the needs. cell wall.

The first requirement is proper permeability. If the permeability is too good, the protective effect will be negligible. If the permeability is too poor, the substances that can be obtained from the outside world will be reduced, and the cells will gradually decline. .

The second requirement is proper flexibility. The cell wall should not be too hard or too soft. It must also have a certain degree of ductility. If it is too hard, it will limit the growth of the cell itself. If it is too soft, it will not be able to act as a buffer and cannot be stretched. If not, the plasticity is very poor, which is not conducive to holding each other together in today's environment.

The third requirement is also the most urgent need of Huogu at present, that is to be able to defend against the attacks of phages, aggressive bacteria, and fungi hidden in the dark.

The first and second requirements are easy to test. You only need to place a single cell on the outermost periphery alone. The rest of the work is just to observe to see if there is any change in the single cell as the experimental object, and to what extent. .

The real difficulty is the third.

(OwO, if you are a fattening party and feel that the update is too slow, please vote for recommendation when raising books. The new book seedlings need these to make a foundation, so it is a small favor, thank you!)