When the first successfully gene-edited pig cell appeared in front of his eyes, Gao Jun was so excited that he almost jumped from the microscope.

However, this is only the first step on the road to success.

At the beginning of the experiment, he used ordinary pork cells, and next he will work on pig reproductive cells.

The new gene fragment is introduced into fertilized pig eggs, and then disease-resistant pig embryos are cultured. After birth, clinical experiments can begin.

It all goes back to the pig farm at home, where it takes place.

He prepared what he needed, bought some equipment needed for the experiment from the Internet, and sent it to his home.

Fortunately, he had been working for several years, lived frugally, and had some savings, which could support him to continue this experiment in a short period of time.

Then I submitted my resignation to the company and bought a train ticket to go home.

He lives in a relatively remote place and the rent is cheap, so he does not need to return the house for the time being. This way, if the experiment does not go well, he can come back and do the experiment again in the future.

This time, if you don't succeed, you will be benevolent.

Of course, it was also because he saw the hope of success that he had the courage to risk everything and go all out.

His hometown is in a small town below the provincial capital of Hunan Province. After a lot of traveling, he finally set foot on familiar land.

It was getting late, so he hopped onto a tricycle with a 28-inch suitcase and returned home before dinner.

Bang bang!

He knocked on the door and shouted: "Mom, Dad, I'm back. Open the door!"

There was a rush of footsteps through the door, and soon the door opened.

"I'm finally back. Come in for dinner. Why did you bring such a big box back? Is it heavy?"

Mother's eyes were a little red, and she reached out to take the suitcase in his hand.

Gao Jun smiled honestly: "It's not heavy, but it takes up a lot of space. I'll do it by myself."

"Okay, then wash your hands and come over for dinner."

Gao Jun put away his suitcase, walked to the kitchen, and while washing his hands, asked: "Where are the things I sent back two days ago?"

"They're all kept in your room, and you won't let me open them. What's in them?"

"Haha, it's nothing, just some experimental equipment."

"Why did you suddenly do this thing? You should go to work normally, learn more from your colleagues and leaders, and avoid doing these messy things. They can't be used as food."

"By the way, how many days will you stay back? Have you asked for leave?"

"Oh, don't worry about this. I will probably stay for a while when I come back this time."

"How can you have so much vacation? What are you going to do at home?"

As soon as he came back, his mother's nagging gave Gao Jun a headache.

He had no choice but to bury his head in his meal and remain silent.

My father was sitting next to me, and he was doing the same thing. He didn't speak much, and he was eating with his head down and a straight face, but his movements were very slow and he was obviously absent-minded.

Gao Jun looked at his father's face and felt sad. He quickly picked up a chicken leg and put it in his bowl.

His father raised his head, glanced at him, and forced a smile: "Jun'er, you're back. Stay a few more days and have a good time."

Gao Jun nodded, and there was an impulse in his heart. He wanted to tell his father about the experiment he was doing. After thinking about it, he felt that it would be better to wait until the experiment was successful and be sure before telling him, so as not to let the old man's joy be in vain.

After all, pig cells in the laboratory and genetically modified pigs cultured are two different things. No matter how well done in the laboratory, there is a high chance of suffering setbacks in reality. This is very normal. Science is like this, progressing through constant trial and error.

It would be better for him to wait until the trial and error was over before telling his father the good news.

The old man seemed to be in a bad state of mind. If he was frightened or shocked in any way, it would be his fault.

After the family finished eating, Gao Jun unpacked the express delivery in the bedroom.

He cleared out the unused storage room next door and placed all the reagents and utensils there.

"I can only try this first, and if it doesn't work, I'll think of a way."

The next day, he followed his father to the pig farm and obtained the required fertilized eggs from the sow.

He had asked his father before, and it happened that the pig farm was going to breed during this period.

The subsequent gene editing was very simple, just a few repeated steps, and the operation only took him five minutes.

Sprinkle the prepared CRISPR-Cas9 solution onto the fertilized pig eggs with a pipette, then place the culture dish containing the cells into a simple incubator, and the entire operation is over.

As long as you wait 2-3 days, the targeted genes in the fertilized pig eggs will be replaced.

Of course, the actual operation is not that simple. What is arduous is the preliminary preparation work, such as preparing guide RNA according to the base sequence of the target DNA, and then combining the guide RNA into the plastid and a series of steps.

Fortunately, he was already prepared and only had to do the simplest things when he got home.

After 3 days, the fertilized eggs are injected into the sow, and a domestic pig with the warthog gene modification can be cultivated.

This is his first clinical experiment. In order to avoid losses caused by failure, he only plans to breed two disease-resistant pigs.

When the piglets grow older, the two genetically modified pigs will be infected with the virus to test the lethality and transmission rate of the new breed and evaluate its performance.

It takes 114 days for a sow to give birth to piglets, which takes a long time. He simply started working on a pig farm and seriously learned pig raising techniques from his father.

Now, not only the mother, but also the father could see that something was wrong.

"Son, tell me, what's wrong with you? You finally went out to study and found a good job in a big city. Do you still plan to come back and raise pigs?"

His parents looked a little anxious and couldn't understand his behavior at all. They felt that he had suffered some kind of shock outside and was mentally disturbed, so they asked him cautiously.

At this point, Gao Jun knew that he could no longer hide it, so he admitted it directly.

"Dad, didn't you say you don't want to run a pig farm anymore? So I plan to come back and take over the business and continue running the pig farm."

The father looked shocked and asked in disbelief: "You, you, why? You don't know how to raise pigs."

Gao Jun chuckled: "I can learn from you. You have so much experience. Besides, my learning ability has always been very strong. I will definitely be able to learn it. You don't have to worry about this."

It took the father a while to calm down, and he looked worried: "Then what if you can't go on? This swine fever is very fatal. By then, all the pigs will be dead, and you will lose all the money you spent on marrying your wife. You

Otherwise, let’s go back to work.”

Gao Jun smiled and said: "Are you so unsure of me? In fact, I have already found a way to come back this time."

The father sneered: "What can you do? The country can't handle it, but you can handle it? Are you trying to make me happy or not?"

The old man was a little angry. He felt that his son was fooling around and had no future at all. It was too unreliable.

Instead, my mother kept trying to persuade me: "I think this is okay. What's so good about a big city? It would be nice if my son could stay with us when he comes back. And this is also called a son inheriting his father's business, right? It's a good thing! Just let him

He’ll try it and tell him if it doesn’t work.”

"Alas," my father sighed, looking a little lonely: "It's up to you. There's not much left in this pig farm anyway, and there's nothing you can do about it."

Gao Jun kept a smile on his face. He knew that his mother had long wanted to go back to his hometown and take the civil service examination. As for his father, it was normal not to believe it until he saw the results. When the genetically modified pigs can really resist swine fever, he will definitely do so.

Believe the facts in front of you and be impressed by yourself.

In the next few months, he diligently learned the skills of raising pigs. He went to the pig farm before dawn every day, starting from the lowest level. He was not afraid of hardship, tiredness or dirt, and he could do any kind of work.

In particular, the sow carrying the genetically modified pig was his focus, and he spent some time observing it every day.

In his free time, he would turn on the computer and continue to read papers and materials, and discuss some technical issues with group members. Other members would also communicate with him if they made small progress.

During this period, I stayed away from the hustle and bustle of big cities and returned to the tranquility of rural life, living an extremely fulfilling life.

Gao Jun gradually fell in love with the life here. He had not lived like this for seven or eight years since he was admitted to university. Now after experiencing it again, he deeply feels that the countryside is still very suitable for scientific research.

Nowadays, rural areas have also developed. There is no shortage of anything. If you need anything, you can order express delivery and have access to the Internet. For a senior homebody, it is really very comfortable and comfortable. It is no worse than staying in the city.

Four months later, the two gene-edited pigs were born healthy and looked no different from ordinary pigs.

Of course, he was not idle during this period. He also edited some other fertilized pig eggs, which were all waiting to be released in the sow's belly.

Piglets are usually fed for a month, then castrated by a veterinarian, and fed for another five months before they are ready for slaughter.

Gao Jun planned to wait until the piglet grew up a little and became stronger before starting the experiment.

To this end, he specially built a shed at the foot of the mountain away from the pig farm, where he planned to keep the two genetic pigs.

More than a month later, two gene-edited pigs were infected with swine fever virus and were imprisoned in an isolation pen.

Gao Jun goes to feed the animals in person every day, observes and records data.

At the beginning, the two pigs still had some reactions. They soon started to have a fever, their skin became red, and they felt very hot to the touch.

Gao Jun was very worried, but after the two pigs had a high fever for about four or five days, they began to slowly improve, their body temperature gradually dropped, and other symptoms did not continue to appear.

It stands to reason that if it were an ordinary domestic pig, its skin would turn purple, there would be bleeding spots, and then it would die quickly without symptoms.

But these two gene-edited pigs survived, and after a week or two, they were completely back to normal.

After some testing, it was found that antibodies had been produced in the pigs' bodies, and the virus had completely disappeared from the two pigs' bodies.

Sure enough, after the introduction of the new warthog gene, the immune response of domestic pigs was not excessive, but a normal immune response, producing antibodies and eliminating the virus.

Gao Jun raised his fists excitedly and spun around in circles several times.
Chapter completed!