godfather of surgery

Chapter 1138 The Stubborn Y Chromosome

Zhang Lin and Xiao Wu discussed in the training room whether LaGou Master could make a brilliant comeback this time.

"Look, this is the second genetic test, and there are absolutely no problems. There are no issues with Tong Yongqian's kinship with his parents." Xiao Wu held a thick stack of genetic analysis reports in his hand.

His father's sex chromosomes are normal XY, and his mother's are XX, without any extra Y chromosome. So, considering their genetic lineage, the disease gene is undoubtedly on the Y chromosome. Since it is a Y chromosome issue, why did it pass from his maternal grandfather to his mother, and then from his mother to him?

The underlying reasons cannot be discerned from current gene testing reports because the more information tested, the longer it takes and the greater the workload. For example, mapping the human genome took more than a decade to complete for numerous scientists from many countries around the world.

"Do you think it's possible that the disease gene could jump from the Y chromosome to the X chromosome?" Xiao Wu asked, letting his imagination run wild.

Jump sideways? How do you jump sideways?

"You mean genes can jump around? I've never heard of that." Zhang Lin shook his head.

Xiao Wu said mysteriously, "Now we need to be bolder and not be bound by existing knowledge. Otherwise, how can we research something groundbreaking? Now the test results are deviating from the laws of genetics, so we have to think outside the box. For example, the disease gene can jump from the Y chromosome to the X chromosome, and then be passed on to Tong Yongqian via the X chromosome. Isn't that logical? The gene jump theory has just emerged. Maybe the two of us can even win the Nobel Prize. We shouldn't be satisfied with just being experts. We should have lofty goals and move towards the Nobel Prize. People always need to have some dreams. Maybe with a bit of luck, we can achieve them."

"Gene recombination? You mean the genes on the X and Y chromosomes have recombinated?" Zhang Lin said in surprise, Xiao Wu's words were not entirely unreasonable.

Xiao Wu nodded: "Yes."

"I don't think we have the knowledge to figure out the reason behind this. How about we go find Professor Yang and see if he can give us some guidance?" Xiao Wu suggested.

Zhang Lin thought it made sense and agreed.

The two arrived at Yang Ping's office. Yang Ping was resting with his eyes closed, a signature move of Professor Yang. Hearing someone knock on the door, Yang Ping opened his eyes.

"Come in!"

Zhang Lin and Xiao Wu came in awkwardly, which Yang Ping found strange. They seemed to have something to say to each other.

"you say!"

"you say!"

The two recommended each other.

Xiao Wu cleared his throat and said, "Professor, we have a question to ask you."

"Say it!"

“Not long ago, we took hair samples from Tong Yongqian, a patient in the neurology department, and his parents for genetic testing. We found that there was no problem with his kinship with his parents.” Xiao Wu lowered his head after saying this.

After all, taking someone else's hair for genetic testing in private is unethical.

"That patient? Tong Yongqian? The one who had an epileptic seizure?" Yang Ping remembered.

“Yes, yes, that’s it!” Zhang Lin immediately chimed in.

"There's no problem with their kinship? You're studying him?" Yang Ping asked curiously.

"Yes, we are continuing our research. We have already tested and confirmed that there is no doubt about their kinship."

"If there are no problems with the genetic pedigree mapping in neurology, then a strange problem arises: the disease gene on the Y gene of Tong Yongqian's maternal grandfather actually jumped to the X gene and was then passed on to his daughter, who is Tong Yongqian's mother, and then passed on to Tong Yongqian through this X gene. That's how it works in theory."

"We'd like to ask if it's possible for the disease-causing gene to jump from the Y chromosome to the X chromosome?"

Yang Ping replied almost without hesitation, "It's possible."

Zhang Lin and Xiao Wu were as excited as if they had just checked their lottery results and discovered they had won the grand prize.

What theory supports this?

"There is no specific theory yet, but from the perspective of human evolutionary history, the X and Y genes could recombine during the inheritance process a long time ago. However, with human evolution, the Y gene was sealed off, and the X and Y genes no longer recombine. It is possible that humans occasionally experience atavism, so XY gene recombination is also possible. What, did you think of this?" Yang Ping thought they were very insightful and dared to think and act.

"Yes, we're wondering if there's been XY gene recombination, which would be a reasonable explanation for Tong Yongqian's unusual behavior. Right now, it's just a guess or hypothesis," Xiao Wu said excitedly.

“It’s possible. If you’re interested, you can continue the research, but you must obtain the consent of the research subjects. Don’t conduct research privately, as that’s inappropriate and violates ethical principles,” Yang Ping reminded them.

"Okay, I understand, thank you, Professor."

Next, Yang Ping gave them a general explanation of the relevant genetics knowledge. In fact, they had all learned this basic knowledge when they were studying in college, but many people have forgotten it.

After leaving Yang Ping's office, Zhang Lin and Xiao Wu gave each other a high five, indicating that their thinking was correct.

If a complete genetic study were conducted on Tong Yongqian, his mother, maternal grandfather, and others, it might uncover the problem. If XY gene recombination were indeed discovered, it would be a major discovery, revealing a clear law in genetics.

"Brother, I feel like the Nobel Prize is beckoning me. Even if I don't win it, I can still make a name for myself in my research." Xiao Wu stared ahead.

Zhang Lin touched his forehead: "Are you alright? Are you sure you don't have a fever? I don't expect any awards. If you can produce one or two top-notch papers, I'll be satisfied."

"Too lacking in self-confidence." Xiao Wu shook his head. Xiao Wu began to ponder the genetics knowledge that Yang Ping had just explained.

Normal humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes: 22 pairs of autosomes and 1 pair of sex chromosomes. Males have XY sex chromosomes, while females have XX sex chromosomes. The Y chromosome is smaller than the X chromosome, generally about one-third the size of the X chromosome.

The Y chromosome evolved from the X chromosome over a long period of evolution, approximately 1.66 million years ago.

In the course of evolution, the most important thing the Y chromosome does is to fight against gene recombination.

Almost all homologous genes undergo gene recombination when germ cells are formed. This is a means of increasing biodiversity. However, the Y chromosome has evolved from the X chromosome with great difficulty, so it is certainly not possible to go back and have recombination again.

Moreover, current research suggests that recombination of the X and Y chromosomes is harmful to offspring, causing male offspring to lose essential genes on the Y chromosome and female offspring to acquire some non-essential genes on the X chromosome.

In order to maintain its independence, the Y chromosome must resist recombination. So it devised a way to carry out YY recombination internally. After this continuous internal recombination, some genes that are beneficial to males gradually gather near the sex-determining genes on the Y chromosome. The genes in this region also slowly develop a new protective mechanism to protect their own gene segments and prevent recombination with the X chromosome.

The Y chromosome has progressed in this direction, continuously establishing its independence and suppressing recombination with the X chromosome. As it has evolved, all the genes on the Y chromosome capable of recombination have been lost. The remaining 6000 million essential base pairs, approximately 95% of which are genes determining male characteristics, are highly closed and cannot recombine with X genes.

This stability has also become a key technology for solving criminal cases in modern times. For example, Y-STR family tracing technology uses the stability of genes on the Y chromosome to pinpoint the family a person comes from.

This involves extracting a person's cells, such as saliva, hair, skin flakes, bloodstains, etc., and conducting genetic testing. This can quickly and accurately pinpoint which family the person comes from. Combined with family gene banks and screening techniques, in practice, it can even trace a suspect to which village or family they come from.

If the disease-causing gene is different from the male characteristic gene, and if it can be separated from the Y chromosome, it means that the human body is using this mechanism to treat genetic diseases during the process of evolution. If this is true, this pattern can be used to treat certain genetic diseases, or at least to prevent the genetic diseases from being passed on to the next generation.

What a great discovery! Xiao Wu slammed his fist down, he was so excited.

Of course, he didn't hit himself, but Zhang Lin's shoulder, which made Zhang Lin howl in pain.

"Fifth Brother, what are you doing?"

"Many scientists throughout history have made tremendous contributions to advancing medicine. What is a bruise on your shoulder?"
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Sanbo Hospital is under the direct management of the capital city. The higher-level leaders have not yet inspected Sanbo Hospital. The higher-level leaders have their own considerations. Geniuses like Yang Ping dislike red tape the most, so he tries not to disturb Yang Ping and Sanbo Hospital. He only provides support quietly behind the scenes. Even if he has any opinions, he conveys them through Dean Xia. They are opinions, not instructions.

The superior was very open-minded; he didn't want his opinion to interfere with Yang Ping's brilliant judgment.

Give him the best platform, the best resources, and the best protection—that's the thinking of the higher-ups. Let him do his own thing freely. What geniuses need most is tolerance and freedom, not guidance and management.

Currently, there is still a significant gap between my country and developed countries in medical technology. Yang Ping decided to play a role in this area and shifted his focus from surgery to scientific research.

Yang Ping is very passionate about surgery, but it would be a waste of his special talents to focus his work on surgery all the time.

Surgery contributes very little to the advancement of science. It is essentially just a repetitive task. Even if surgical techniques are improved or surgical concepts are innovated, they are merely localized improvements on existing technologies and cannot be considered major innovations.

He must use his abilities where they matter most, leading medical innovation. As for surgery, his main task from now on will be training students.

This is why Yang Ping delegates most surgeries to Song Ziming and Xu Zhiliang, passing on his surgical skills to others. This replication-based training model expands the reach of his surgical skills.

In the future, we can expand the training program to raise the level of doctors from top hospitals across the country, which is much better than him having superb skills on his own.

By teaching their surgical skills to a group of excellent doctors, who in turn train their own students, and so on, the overall level of the medical profession can be improved, thus maximizing the effectiveness of their surgical skills.

Yang Ping shared this idea with Dean Xia and Professor Su, who strongly agreed. They believed that the university, hospital, and research institute could collaborate to establish a systematic training platform.

For example, Nandu Medical University could place all its eight-year doctoral programs at Sanbo Hospital for clinical training, and Sanbo Hospital could establish an elite training program to recruit candidates from across the country.

This establishes a continuous and systematic training system, rather than sporadic training.

Dean Xia and Professor Su discussed it and immediately agreed. They set to work right away, and they could also seek support from the national health department so that the program could become a national training program that would last for ten, twenty, or thirty years. It's easy to imagine how many outstanding doctors it could train.

In the area of ​​medical research, Yang Ping can personally formulate a grand strategic plan and rely on the power of the state to promote it. This will not only help overcome many strategic challenges in the medical field, but also cultivate a large number of outstanding medical talents.

Yang Ping thought for a long time that he must play a strategic role, not a tactical one, and wrote down a complete plan before submitting it.

Soon after, the capital city replied: it agreed with Professor Yang's opinion and would give him strong support without any limit, and all units would cooperate with Professor Yang's plan.

In order to establish a system, the higher authorities separated the research institute from Sanbo Hospital, promoted it to a top national research institution, and renamed it Southern Medical Academy, with Yang Ping as the chief scientist of the academy.

Sanbo Hospital and the former affiliated hospitals of Nandu Medical University became its affiliated hospitals, and Nandu Medical University became its affiliated university. This formed a large triangle with the Southern Academy of Medical Sciences as the core, and the research institutes, universities and hospitals forming a large triangle.

This reform streamlined the relationship between Sanbo Hospital, Nandu Medical University, and Sanbo Research Institute, and also established Yang Ping's status in science and technology, as well as the nature of the Chinese Academy of Sciences as a purely research institution.

The government has also allocated a piece of land to the Academy of Medical Sciences to build a super research institute. The office space, equipment, and talent pool will be very large, which will allow Yang Ping to make the most of his abilities.

This aligns perfectly with Yang Ping's idea, which he has been envisioning: establishing a super research institute.

Professor Su also reformed the entire Nandu Medical University to keep up with the pace of Yang Ping's plan, because some things cannot be solved simply by setting up a training course; they need to be matched in terms of systems, culture, and so on.

President Rao had already laid a solid foundation for Nandu Medical University when he was president. However, President Rao was a kind person, so the reforms were not too radical and always progressed slowly. He also did not take drastic measures against some unsuitable people.

However, Professor Su is different. Professor Su has a refined appearance, but his style of doing things is very ruthless. He is a rare scholar who does very well in both academics and management. He firmly promotes reform based on President Rao's work.