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This month, the top academic journal "Cell" once again launched a collection of Best of 2021, a selection of 9 unmissable research papers (Articles) in the past year

In the introduction to this issue of the journal, these selected studies represent exciting work in the fields of life sciences and biomedical research, and are not only considered by the editorial board to be the most interesting and influential, but have also attracted widespread attention from the outside world

1.

In the second year of the new crown pandemic, there are still many important papers published on the new crown virus, helping us to find a way to end the epidemic as soon as possible

In this article, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden focused on those infected with asymptomatic or mild symptoms

Doi: 10.

2.

This study describes a surprising discovery that subverts textbooks: the surface of various cells is not only distributed with glycosylated proteins and lipid molecules, but also a new type of biomolecules unknown in the past: glycosylated RNA (glycoRNA)

Using new technologies such as "bioorthogonal chemistry", the researchers discovered this glycan molecule on the cell surface and finally showed that it is a conserved class of non-coding RNAs with sialic acid-rich glycans

The corresponding author of the paper is Professor Carolyn Bertozzi, an expert in the field of glycosylation modification.

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3.

The advent of immunotherapy has brought new life to many cancer patients

This large-scale meta-analysis of more than 1,000 patients undergoing immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy across seven different types of cancer analyzed massive data from whole-exome and transcriptome sequencing and is the first of its kind.
The largest item
.

The researchers' analysis validated multiple biomarkers that can be used to predict a patient's response to immune checkpoint inhibitors, the results of which could lead to more precise treatments for cancer patients in the future
.

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4.
Modified gene therapy delivery vehicles

Directed evolution of a family of AAV capsid variants enabling potent muscle-directed gene delivery across species

In the field of gene therapy, adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based vectors are widely used to deliver therapeutic genes or gene editing tools
.
By modifying the "outside" of AAV, the capsid protein, researchers can make these vectors more precisely target specific tissues and organs, avoid the effects of neutralizing antibodies in the body, and be safer
.

A research team from the Broad Institute of the United States and Harvard University has developed an in vivo strategy to optimize the AAV capsid, and through directed evolution and screening, a class of AAV capsid variants has been obtained, which can efficiently deliver genes to muscle tissue to achieve Directed transduction
.
Experimental results in animal models of the disease also suggest that these AAV vectors hold promise for advancing the treatment of inherited muscle diseases such as muscular dystrophy
.

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5.
Human-monkey hybrid embryos are born

Chimeric contribution of human extended pluripotent stem cells to monkey embryos ex vivo

In April 2021, a research team led by scientists from China and the United States announced that they had produced the first embryo composed of human cells and monkey cells, a milestone in the field of stem cells and cross-species chimera
.

The researchers isolated fertilized eggs from cynomolgus monkeys, grew them in petri dishes, and then infused the monkey embryos with human expanded pluripotent stem cells
.
In the surviving chimeric embryos, human stem cells successfully proliferated and underwent some degree of differentiation
.

In the long run, such chimeras could be used to study early human development, develop disease models, screen for potential new drugs, and create cells, tissues or organs that can be transplanted to rescue patients who need transplants
.
At the same time, this groundbreaking achievement has also brought about an ethical discussion
.

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6.
The memory model of the hippocampus

The Tolman-Eichenbaum Machine: Unifying Space and Relational Memory through Generalization in the Hippocampal Formation

The hippocampus is a key area of ​​the brain closely related to spatial navigation and memory
.
Decades of research have taught us that the performance of spatial and associative memory tasks depends on various types of nerve cells in the hippocampus and its adjacent entorhinal cortex
.

In this study, scientists at the University of Oxford, UK, used a disaggregation and reorganization approach to construct a framework that provides common principles of spatial and associative memory that integrate multiple different properties of entorhinal cells and hippocampal cells.
to explain the generalization of the hippocampus in various spatial and nonspatial problems and to predict how the hippocampus remaps in complex spatial and nonspatial tasks
.

In honor of two important experts in the field of cognition, namely Professor Edward Chase Tolman, who first proposed the "cognitive map", and Professor Howard Eichenbaum, who elucidated the role of the hippocampus in spatial and non-spatial memory, the study authors put this associative memory model.
Named The Tolman-Eichenbaum Machine (TEM)
.

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7.
New strategies for domesticating wild rice

A route to de novo domestication of wild allotetraploid rice

With world population growth and climate change, global food production still faces severe challenges
.
The currently cultivated rice is all domesticated from the diploid wild rice, but in the genus Oryza, there are many kinds of tetraploid wild rice
.
They have advantages in genetic diversity, yield, adaptability, etc.
, but unfortunately, no domestication method has been found
.
In this study, the team of Academician Li Jiayang from the Institute of Seed Innovation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, proposed a new strategy for rapid de novo domestication of tetraploid wild rice
.

This strategy includes four main stages: collection and screening of tetraploid wild rice resources with excellent traits; establishment of a technical system for rapid de novo domestication; molecular design and rapid domestication of varieties; promotion and application of new rice crops
.
Among them, the research team selected an excellent wild rice resource and broke through all the technical bottlenecks in the second stage
.
This research lays an important foundation for the cultivation of new crops in the future
.

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8.
Genomes reveal evolutionary history of rhinos

Ancient and modern genomes unravel the evolutionary history of the rhinoceros family

In the evolutionary history of tens of millions of years, rhinos used to be diverse, and hundreds of species have evolved
.
But today, there are only five species left in the entire Rhino family
.
Reconstructing the evolutionary history of rhinos from such a small population of endangered species is undoubtedly a huge challenge
.

In this study, the research group of Dr.
Liu Shanlin from China Agricultural University, in cooperation with the University of Copenhagen, Stockholm University and other institutions, has revealed the differences between the small populations of rhinoceros by sequencing the genomes of 5 living rhinos and 3 extinct rhinos.
Evolutionary history
.

The study pointed out that the ancestors of living rhinoceros diverged into two subclades of Africa and Eurasian continents about 16 million years ago
.
The study also found that living species had the lowest levels of heterozygosity and the highest degree of inbreeding during this evolutionary history, a phenomenon that likely reflects human-induced declines in rhino populations
.

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9.
Tens of thousands of viruses and bacteria commuting together

A global metagenomic map of urban microbiomes and antimicrobial resistance

In 60 cities on six continents around the world, including Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taipei, researchers have discovered more than 12,000 previously unknown bacteria and viruses in subways and buses
.
The study, the largest global urban microbial metagenomics study to date, was conducted by an international consortium of researchers and volunteers who collected nearly 5,000 samples for analysis over three years
.

The researchers thus created the world's first systematic catalog of urban microbial ecosystems
.
There are 31 species of bacteria that appear in most cities and are called "core urban microbial species"
.
Just like every city has its iconic buildings, every city has its own unique microbial makeup
.

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