News on China's scientific and technological development.

SanWenYu

Captain
Registered Member
Chinese scientists identified a gene in sorghum that determines alkaline tolerance of the crop. The discovery can significantly increase crop output of wheat, corn, rice, sorghum, etc. that planted in alkaline soil.

Notably the team has worked with Syngenta and got international patents on the gene.

Paper:
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A Gγ protein regulates alkaline sensitivity in crops​

Abstract​

The use of alkaline salt lands for crop production is hindered by a scarcity of knowledge and breeding efforts for plant alkaline tolerance. Through genome association analysis of sorghum, a naturally high-alkaline–tolerant crop, we detected a major locus, Alkaline Tolerance 1 (AT1), specifically related to alkaline-salinity sensitivity. An at1 allele with a carboxyl-terminal truncation increased sensitivity, whereas knockout of AT1 increased tolerance to alkalinity in sorghum, millet, rice, and maize. AT1 encodes an atypical G protein γ subunit that affects the phosphorylation of aquaporins to modulate the distribution of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). These processes appear to protect plants against oxidative stress by alkali. Designing knockouts of AT1 homologs or selecting its natural nonfunctional alleles could improve crop productivity in sodic lands.

News:
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“我国人多地少,在工业化和城镇化发展的背景下,确保18亿亩耕地红线,粮食安全生产存在巨大压力。如何破题?”

“把边际土地,特别是盐碱地的作用发挥出来,就能大幅缓解这个压力。”3月22日,中国科学院院士李家洋在中国科学院遗传与发育生物学研究所(以下简称遗传发育所)举办的成果发布会上说。

通过7年联合攻关,遗传发育所谢旗团队与中国农业大学于菲菲团队、华中农业大学欧阳亦聃团队联合十家单位,以高粱为材料,打开主效耐碱基因AT1的“藏粮密码”。他们的研究表明,该基因可在中重度盐碱地显著提升高粱、水稻、小麦、玉米和谷子等作物的产量。相关研究结果3月24日发表于《科学》和《国家科学评论》。

目前研究团队已与先正达集团合作,为该基因申请了国际专利。
 

gadgetcool5

Senior Member
Registered Member

CSPC Pharmaceuticals has developed the first homegrown Chinese mRNA Covid vaccine, SYS6006.

With more than 5,500 participants, the company has completed Phases I and II, along with heterologous booster vaccination clinical studies in the country.

In the trials, the vaccine demonstrated substantially fewer adverse effects on a group of elderly subjects compared with an adult group. In a study of 4,000 participants receiving a booster vaccination, it also showed an 85.3% efficacy after 14 to 28 days.

Phase III trials are still needed. However, in general, this puts China a little over two years behind the US, not long in the grand scheme of things. Another win for China.
 
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antiterror13

Brigadier

CSPC Pharmaceuticals has developed the first homegrown Chinese mRNA Covid vaccine, SYS6006.

With more than 5,500 participants, the company has completed Phases I and II, along with heterologous booster vaccination clinical studies in the country.

In the trials, the vaccine demonstrated substantially fewer adverse effects on a group of elderly subjects compared with an adult group. In a study of 4,000 participants receiving a booster vaccination, it also showed an 85.3% efficacy after 14 to 28 days.

Phase III trials are still needed. However, in general, this puts China a little over two years behind the US, not long in the grand scheme of things. Another win for China.

2 years is nothing at all and perhaps likely the Chinese one is better than the US one 2 yrs ago
 

luminary

Senior Member
Registered Member
Entire databases closed to internationals with only one week notice? This seems kinda big:
Chinese academic papers
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out of security concerns
China’s top internet portal for academic papers will suspend foreign access to some databases starting next week, sparking concerns among scholars that they will lose an important resource for understanding China.

The portal provides “one of the easiest means of searching through Chinese language media sources, academic journal articles and government almanacs”, frequently used to study local and provincial governance in China. Chinese academic debates often play an important role in policy formulation and that platforms like CNKI play “an integral part” of understanding Chinese policy reform, ideological drivers and leadership priorities.

This week, research institutions around the world – including the University of California, San Diego, Kyoto University and the Berlin State Library – notified affiliates that they would indefinitely lose access to up to four databases provided by the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) platform starting on April 1.
CNKI’s operator – Tongfang Knowledge Network Technology – noted that the suspension was made in accordance with “the Measures of Data Cross-Border Transfer Assessment and relevant laws effective September 1, 2022”.

The regulation,
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by the country’s top internet watchdog, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), requires security reviews of “important” and large data transfers from China to destinations outside its borders.

Since June, the CAC has been investigating CNKI on the grounds that it has “sensitive information” related to the country’s major projects, significant technological achievements and development of core technologies.

Beijing may be countering online data scraping – the mass, automated download of unstructured data from the internet into files.
Over 95% of published Chinese academic papers are available on CNKI. About 40% of subscription materials are exclusive to the platform.

Not all CNKI databases will be affected by the latest effort to comply with cybersecurity regulations. The crucial Chinese Academic Journals database – which publishes almost every Chinese journal – remains untouched for now.

Among the affected databases are the China Dissertation and Masters’ Theses; the China Proceedings of Conferences; China Statistical Yearbooks; and the National Population Census of China.
This development has encouraged some international academics to plan on physically travelling to China to conduct field research.
 
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