Three Hundred and Seventy Eighth Virus Version 2.0

"What?" The first brother almost thought he was hallucinating, could it be that he was under too much pressure recently?

"New puffed virus." The secretary spoke clearly.

Brother Yi and Qiu Tianning looked at each other in blank dismay, and it took a few seconds for them to come to their senses.

"Let's go!" Brother Yi got up and hurried away, "Contact the laboratory immediately!"

The secretary hurriedly replied, "Director Xu and Professor Qin are both online."

Several people rushed to the meeting room, and the first brother couldn't wait to ask: "Old Qin, what's going on?"

Professor Qin looked troubled: "We isolated a new type of virus from sword ants, and did some experiments to be cautious. The eggs showed very obvious signs of puffing. A few eggs hatched not long ago, and the newborn larvae are very vicious. Aggressiveness, I have already arranged manpower to observe the situation of the experimental subject for 24 hours."

"The larvae are very aggressive?" Qiu Tianning repeated suspiciously.

"Yes." Professor Qin nodded. "The experiment used locust eggs. The newly hatched nymphs were compared with ordinary nymphs. The jaws were larger and more developed, and the forelimbs were thicker and stronger. The variation is very obvious."

"Also, this larva not only killed the two companions that hatched together, but also ate three unhatched eggs."

Several people were stunned together, and it took a while to digest Professor Qin's words.

Vegetarian locusts actually switch to meat?

Brother Yi rubbed his face vigorously to make himself more sober: "Mr. Qin, you mean that the mutation of the sword ant is related to this newly discovered puffing virus?"

"I think the possibility is very high." Professor Qin said.

"The aggressiveness of knife ants is also related to viruses?"

"It's possible."

The first brother scratched his hair fiercely: "The virus can also affect the aggressiveness of the bugs? This, this, is this incredible?"

He wanted to say that this was too much nonsense, but with Professor Qin's status in the domestic biological world, unless he was old and confused, he would never make such a terrible joke.

The first brother stared at Professor Qin's eyes wide-eyed. Although those vicissitudes of the old eyes were a little cloudy, there was no flickering or confusion.

Professor Qin's old face was wrinkled: "I also find it unbelievable. The fact happened before my eyes. I can't help but not believe it."

Brother Yi quickly calmed down: "What does the virus use to affect the bugs?"

"There are no clues yet."

"What is the difference between the second-generation virus and the first-generation virus?"

"Research on viruses has just begun, and we know very little about viruses. Currently, we only know the gene base of the second-generation virus, which is 4.7 times that of the first-generation virus."

The first brother was slightly taken aback: "Is the second-generation virus a brand new virus?"

"It's not clear and my gut tells me there must be some connection between the two viruses that we don't know about."

"Intuition?" Qiu Tianning was astonished.

"Yes, intuition." Professor Qin said, "From the genetic level, the two viruses are completely unrelated. But except for the number of genes, the shape and structure of the two viruses are almost exactly the same, even the process of invading cells and the process of inserting gene fragments. The way is exactly the same, so I have reason to believe that the relationship between the two viruses is not that simple."

The first brother had a headache and said: "Then does this virus have something to do with super-speed evolution?"

"I think there is." Professor Qin said, "but there is no evidence to support it yet."

Qiu Tianning said pointedly: "If you didn't say this, I would definitely take it as a joke."

Professor Qin pursed his lips: "I'd rather it be a joke."

The first brother said: "Old Qin, if I understand correctly, the bugs infected with the first-generation virus only change in size, but the bugs infected with the second-generation virus are not only more aggressive, but also swell in size, and their limbs will also become smaller." More suitable for offense!"

"Yes, that's it." Professor Qin said.

"Is this still a bug?" Qiu Tianning spread his hands and questioned.

"The current bugs are no longer the bugs we understand." The first brother said, "Professor, do all bugs infected with the second-generation virus change their appearance to be more suitable for attacking?"

"I don't know,

The second-generation virus has just been discovered, and large-scale infection experiments have not yet been conducted. "

"What about that generation of virus? Haven't found an effective antibody yet?" Brother One asked again.

The most effective method for my virus is autoimmunity. The search for puffed virus antibodies has been started as early as the establishment of the laboratory, but there has been no progress.

"No." Xu Jiaye finally found a chance to speak, "Currently there is no insect that can effectively immunize against puffing virus."

Professor Qin said: "If you have antibodies, you don't have to worry about it. The structures of the two viruses are basically the same. Antibodies that are effective against one virus must also be effective against the other virus."

"Speed ​​up as much as possible. The puffed virus has already produced the second generation, but we can't even deal with the first-generation virus. If this continues, the third-generation virus may come out one day." The first brother said disappointedly.

"We will work hard." Professor Qin promised.

After the communication ended, Professor Qin fell into deep thought.

In order to find antibodies against the puffed virus, the laboratory conducted a large number of infection experiments using various insects as carriers, but the immune system of the experimental insects completely ignored the puffed virus, and so far no antibody to the puffed virus has been found.

The experimental team believes that this occurs because the puffing virus infection does not harm the insects, or it may be that the puffing virus interferes with the insect's immune system.

In short, attempts to use insects to find antibodies have hit a dead end.

The laboratory did not stop there, but continued to experiment with other types of organisms.

All kinds of non-insect crustaceans, reptiles, birds, fish, and even mammals have not escaped the poison of the experimenters. However, even if the virus has an effect on these things, no virus antibody can be found.

Even if antibodies are found, it is not possible to catch bugs from all over the world into the laboratory for vaccination, but it is possible to artificially create a microorganism that can produce antibodies in insects after infecting insects, or directly kill the puffing virus.

Of course, the research in the laboratory is not completely fruitless. Through a large number of experiments, some microorganisms that restrain the puffing virus have indeed been found, and there are quite a few of them.

It’s just that none of these microorganisms can infect insects. The laboratory is currently working hard on experiments, planning to strip off the anti-puffing virus gene fragments in these microorganisms and transplant them into the puffing virus to fight against puffing viruses.

It is also a good way to use other types of insect viruses as vectors to carry out gene transplantation, but the scope of infection of puffed viruses is extremely wide. So far, humans have not found any microorganisms that can be compared with puffed viruses, so puffed viruses have become experimental. The best choice for the room.

It's a pity that the laboratory can't even isolate gene fragments, let alone transplant them.

What should be done to achieve a breakthrough? (To be continued.)