Chapter 795 A trillion US dollars in economic value? A Nobel Prize? What use would that be to me!
Inside a small building on the shore of Nanhai Lake in Yanjing.
Han Jinheng frowned slightly, and after a long silence, he slowly asked, "Is there a problem with the data?"
He was skeptical about the yield per acre of Ora Gold 940.
Because he lived through a special era and witnessed all sorts of bizarre and absurd things, including the practice of grinding off chip markings to disguise them as self-developed chips.
If it's true, he'll be happy; if it's false, he'll be disappointed.
"This kid never seems to disappoint! Meng Yuanzhi and the staff of the Luzhou Anguo Association are on their way. They only need a few mature soybean plants to estimate the actual yield."
Li Qingsong first stated his position, then added a further comment.
He knows Chen Yansen well; from lithography machines to chips, and then to DeepBlue Technology, he has never uttered empty words.
Unlike some semiconductor companies that make a big fuss when they need money, but then encounter a bunch of unforeseen obstacles when it comes time to deliver results.
"I want to go to Luzhou in person."
After listening, Han Jinheng pondered for a long time before suddenly standing up.
Seeing this, the secretary immediately took out her phone and arranged the boss's next schedule.
For Han Jinheng, within China, wherever he wants to go, he can immediately arrange a private jet to reach his destination as quickly as possible.
at the same time.
Upon receiving instructions from Meng Yuanzhi, the Luzhou branch of the agricultural cooperative immediately dispatched a team of technicians to Senlian Science and Technology Park to verify the authenticity of Ora Gold 940.
What does a yield of 940 kilograms per mu (unit of land area) mean?
The agrochemical industry and even the agricultural and livestock sectors in the East and West will undergo significant changes.
High-yield soybeans equal high-protein soybeans, which can elevate the domestic livestock industry to a new level.
The Ora Gold 940 project is expected to generate at least $100 billion in economic value annually.
But for them, the research projects in their own institute became meaningless.
If others are achieving a yield of 1000 kilograms per mu, what's the point of trying to increase the yield from 300 kilograms to 400 kilograms per mu?
Throughout the journey, these top experts in the field of biology had extremely complicated expressions and were in a state of great anxiety.
Not long after, the car entered the Senlian Science and Technology Park.
Unlike usual, the park was now filled with patrol and Anguo Association staff.
Wang Jin pushed up her glasses and led the way out of the car.
She is an academician of the Biology Department of the Luzhou Agricultural Association Center, and also a tutor and dean of the College of Agriculture at Luzhou University of Science and Technology. She has dedicated most of her life to the field of plant production.
She knew very well that once Orange Biotechnology successfully integrated the key gene for C4 photosynthesis into C3 plants and made it work perfectly, it would be a breakthrough for mankind in the fields of synthetic biology and plant physiology!
This is equivalent to installing a Formula One engine and a complete power system on an ordinary car, which will solve the global protein supply problem once and for all and greatly reduce the cost of meat production.
This technology will become a more powerful strategic tool than any weapon, capable of dominating the global food trade landscape!
Orange Bio, which masters this technology, will possess an unshakeable agricultural technology hegemony, and the economic value it generates will be calculated in trillions of US dollars.
The Nobel Prize in Biology may only be a tiny fraction of the significance of this technology.
"Dean Wang, Mr. Meng is at the R&D center. Please come with me."
Tao Jingwen waited downstairs. As soon as she saw Wang Jin and her group, she took the initiative to step forward and led them into the elevator lobby, and then into Orange Bio's artificial climate chamber.
As soon as you push open the door, the first thing you see is the T2 plant cultivation area of Super Rice 2000. After walking forward fifty or sixty meters, you can see a golden expanse.
In the ten-square-meter experimental area, the Ora Gold 940 soybeans grew strong and lush, with heavy pods bending the vines, and a faint soybean aroma could be smelled when you got close.
Hearing the noise behind him, Meng Yuanzhi turned around and, after seeing who it was, handed Wang Jin a bean pod he had just picked.
Wang Jin took it, his heart skipped a beat, and he immediately had a clearer understanding of the Ora Gold 940.
Each pod is between 5 and 6 centimeters long, plump and swollen, and has a perfect arc shape.
The pods are thick, with a uniform hay yellow color and a slight hint of light brown. The surface is covered with fine grayish-white hairs, which gleam with a velvety sheen under the LED simulated lighting system.
The pod contains three plump soybeans, all of uniform size, like carefully selected pearls.
The outer skin is smooth and bright in color, being golden.
"Mr. Chen, this is Professor Wang Jin from the Luzhou Agricultural Association. Many of the technicians in your laboratory are her students."
Meng Yuanzhi said with a smile.
Wang Jin then came to her senses and stared blankly at Chen Yansen.
She knew Chen Yansen, the richest man in China and the world. She had heard Lao Hu from the China Association of Science and Technology mention him. He had amazing memory and intelligence and made significant contributions to the development of the Dawn A220 lithography machine and the Candle Dragon G1051.
Even the Deep Blue Battery reportedly achieved its core breakthrough under Chen Yansen's influence.
In her eyes, Chen Yansen looked only nineteen or twenty years old, with a very young appearance, but his eyes were exceptionally deep, revealing a solemnity that did not match his age.
"Mr. Chen, it's a pleasure to meet you!"
Wang Jin raised her right hand and greeted him politely.
Although she holds a respectable position in the industry, she pales in comparison to Chen Yansen.
He's just an academician, Chen Yansen is one too!
Based on his contributions to the research and development of the Dawn A220, Chen Yansen was awarded the title of academician in this year's academician selection.
Of course, it was not made public; only the most core members of the academic community knew about it.
Furthermore, Senlian Group has three academicians, plus three Nobel Prize laureates in Chemistry.
wrong!
With Ora Gold 940, Orange Biotech could probably add three more Nobel Prizes to its portfolio.
"Dean Wang, thank you! If it weren't for the training provided by the College of Agriculture of Luzhou University of Science and Technology, I wouldn't have been able to recruit so many outstanding researchers."
Seeing that the other party was being polite, Chen Yansen simply returned the compliment.
Whether Wang Jin believes these words or not is none of his business.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, everyone except Chen Yansen focused their attention on the Ora Gold 940.
The plant is tall and strong, with an average height of 110 to 120 centimeters. Unlike the weak and easily lodging posture of traditional soybeans, its plant shape is an extremely compact cylindrical shape.
The main stem is as thick as an adult's little finger, and the internodes are significantly shortened, which makes the center of gravity of the whole soybean plant extremely low, like a sturdy big man.
Even when bearing abundant fruit, the plants rarely fall over.
The lower part of the stem is tough, dark brown, and has fine longitudinal grooves that enhance its mechanical support.
The entire group has excellent ventilation and light transmission, allowing sunlight to reach the lower and middle parts of the plant.
Wang Jin touched the stem with his hand; it felt hard, indicating a high degree of lignification.
From base to tip, there are at least 25 to 30 nodes arranged densely, with a moderate number of branches, about three to four. However, they do not spread outwards, but grow upwards close to the main stem at a very small angle, becoming a strong supplement to the main stem.
This "parallel" branching structure is key to ensuring efficient use of light energy even under high-density planting conditions.
At this point, most of the leaves, including the compound leaves around the pods, have completely fallen off. This is the result of the plant transferring the last bit of nutrients to the pods without reservation.
Only a few of the top leaves still retain a trace of yellowish-green.
This "perfect leaf fall" characteristic is carefully designed to prevent the leaves from competing with the pods for nutrients.
She gave a wink to the technicians behind her, and several agricultural cooperative R&D personnel immediately divided up and began their work.
Some people used measuring tapes and counters to measure the height of each plant, the distance between internodes, and count the number of pods.
Someone took out a portable threshing machine, selected representative plants for on-site threshing, and weighed them using a high-precision balance.
Some people also use rapid testing devices to conduct preliminary screening of the protein and fat content of soybeans.
The scene was so quiet that only the soft hum of the instruments could be heard, and Wang Jin's gaze never left the experimental field.
She crouched down and carefully counted the number of soybean pods on a plant: "1, 2, 37, 38, 167, 168!"
When she counted the 168th pod, her fingers paused slightly.
For ordinary soybeans, 20 pods per plant is considered high-yield, and more than 60 pods per plant is considered high-yield. More than 100 pods per plant requires both varietal advantages and meticulous management.
Before I could even finish counting the Ora Gold 940 soybeans, I had already reached nearly 200.
The final number was 227!
Looking at the threshed soybeans, the grains are plump and uniform, and the thousand-grain weight is significantly higher than that of conventional varieties. Just by looking at them, one can tell that the yield is definitely not low.
Just then, Meng Yuanzhi's phone rang again. He answered it with a serious expression and whispered to Chen Yansen, "Old Han is coming to Luzhou and is on his way. He is expected to arrive in an hour."
Chen Yansen frowned slightly, inwardly complaining: Looks like I won't be able to leave work on time today.
"Dean Wang, the thousand-grain weight test results are in!"
A technician ran over with a testing instrument, excitedly adding, "The thousand-grain weight is 296 grams! That's 80 to 100 grams more than ordinary soybeans!"
"Mr. Chen, it seems that this year's Nobel Prize in Biology will be awarded to Senlian Group again."
Wang Jin said meaningfully.
"The Nobel Prize? That thing has little value; the economic benefits of Ora Gold 940 are what matter most."
Chen Yansen replied nonchalantly.
In his view, reputation is not as important as money.
When the Ora Gold 940 goes on sale, he plans to open sales outlets all over the world and recruit several thousand salespeople first.
Given Orange Bio's profitability, there is no issue of not being able to afford to maintain it.
With his own farm, he will be able to provide tens of millions of humanitarian aids a year!
This is the issue that Mr. Chen cares about most!
"Mr. Chen, could you explain how you introduced the molecular genome of C4 photosynthesis into C3 crops?"
Wang Jin asked curiously.
It is important to understand that the core technical challenge in introducing the C4 photosynthesis gene into C3 soybeans lies in the fact that C4 photosynthesis is a complex system engineering project involving the coordinated regulation of multiple genes, rather than a simple transfer of a single gene.
The efficient photosynthesis of C4 plants depends on structural specialization, metabolic division of labor, and the synergy of regulatory networks. Soybean, as a C3 plant, lacks these foundations, and direct transduction of genes cannot achieve functional reconstruction.
If it were that easy, the China Agricultural Association and research institutes across the country would have done it long ago.
Meanwhile, Monsanto, DuPont Pioneer, and Syngenta, the three leading biotechnology breeding companies, will not remain stagnant for long.
In soybeans, only minor breakthroughs have been achieved with single C4 enzymes, such as the introduction of PEPC in corn. Although PEPC activity can be detected, the photosynthetic rate is increased by less than 10%, and it is accompanied by a decrease in pod formation and a decline in stress resistance.
The C4 rice project has been studied globally for more than 20 years, but only some C4 enzyme expression and leaf structure have been slightly modified. It has not yet formed a wreath-like structure, and the high light efficiency advantage has not been reflected.
Orange Technology achieved breakthroughs in both rice and soybean fields in less than a year.
Even though she knew this question was somewhat presumptuous, Wang Jin couldn't help but ask.
Chen Yansen did not deliberately avoid the question, and replied calmly, "Dean Wang, the principle is actually not difficult. The key lies in the coordinated control network reconstruction."
He paused, reached out and picked a soybean plant, pointing to the junction of the stem and leaves: "C4 photosynthesis is not the work of a single gene, but rather the result of the synergy of structural specialization, metabolic division of labor, and gene regulation."
Instead of following the old approach of introducing a single C4 enzyme, we used the Moss model to simulate 120,000 gene interaction scenarios, screening out the core gene cluster that enables soybeans to autonomously form a wreath-like structure. Then, with promoter optimization and epigenetic modification, we enabled C3 plants to spontaneously reconstruct the C4 photosynthetic system.
Moss's Big Model?
Using AI to assist in biological research?
These words, though brief, sent a deep shock through Wang Jin and the technicians.
They had heard of the Möss model, but they never imagined it could be applied to the field of synthetic biology.
Simulating 120,000 gene interactions requires computing power and algorithmic support that is unimaginable for ordinary research institutions.
"So how do you address gene silencing and metabolic disorders?"
Wang Jin pressed for an answer.
This is another major challenge in C4 gene introduction.
Monsanto previously attempted to introduce the PEPC gene into corn, which resulted in metabolic imbalance in soybeans and smaller pods.
“We designed a specialized CRISPR-Cas9 vector that can not only precisely insert into gene clusters, but also simultaneously silence endogenous genes that cause metabolic conflicts. This is equivalent to redesigning the production line of the soybean gene factory, ensuring that photosynthetic products can flow efficiently to the pods, rather than being wasted on useless metabolic pathways. This is the technology of targeted editing vectors.”
Chen Yansen answered succinctly.
He did not elaborate on the design details of the carrier, and Wang Jin tactfully did not ask any further questions.
This is clearly Orange Biotech's core trade secret!
Based on these two points alone, she was completely convinced that Orange Biotech's technology was indeed at the forefront of the world, and even at least twenty years ahead!
(End of this chapter)
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