Hogwarts: From Selling White Peppers to Becoming a God

Chapter 394 Deep Dive

"Besides the chromosomes unique to vampires, vampires and ordinary wizards have about 0.01% difference in base pairs on the remaining chromosomes, which involves about 140 genes. Some of these genes have very small differences, while others are completely different."

Javad, the head of the vampire research group, handed Murphy a report, introducing him to the latest research progress.

"Of these, we can roughly determine the function of 23 genes, but for the rest, we know almost nothing," Jawad said. "To carry out targeted treatment, we'd better figure out the function of these special genes, find the key gene that causes them to become photophobic, and then modify or knock it out."

"How long will it take?" Murphy asked.

"This... is hard to estimate..." Jawad said. "Our understanding of the genome is still very basic. No one has done this kind of research before. The data in this area is almost non-existent. We have to start from scratch with control experiments to find the corresponding molecular pathways... Even with a time accelerator, the time for trait expression can be shortened a lot, but the overall experimental workload is too large, and it is difficult to give a specific time..."

It was only 96, the beginning of the Human Genome Project, and humanity's understanding of genes was still in a very basic stage. Umbrella Corporation and Magic Labs had already progressed much faster than the rest of the world, but even so, it was only the beginning.

In fact, much of the remaining work no longer faces significant technical bottlenecks. With Cas9 gene editing technology and time accelerators, it may only take four or five years for humanity to catch up with the progress of the next ten or twenty years.

But Murphy was getting impatient. Sophia was already showing signs of suicidal tendencies, and in four or five years, she might even become depressed.

There are other ways to cure the Queen's illness through magic, such as using a higher Animagus to transform, which has a chance to replace the vampire genes in the Queen's body.

However, the transformation of higher Animagus remains a black box in terms of details. After transformation, the degree of combination and preservation of human and animal genes is uncertain. If all goes well, it may be possible to recover, but there is also a high possibility that it will turn into a worse state.

Murphy himself is a victim of the black box state of the metamorphosis pathway, and his genetic defects have not yet been resolved, which is one of the reasons why he is vigorously promoting the genome project.

The more we know, the more we understand about specific genes, the better we can control the overall process of change. What we lack now is "knowledge".

However, there are ways to acquire knowledge.

Murphy thought for a moment and said, "Make me a table listing the locations and numbers of those genes, and label them with the initial thirty base pairs."

Most of these differentially expressed genes are existing human genes, and their corresponding traits and potential uses have largely been discovered in the future. Murphy plans to dig deeper into his memories to see if he can find any relevant information.

After receiving the list, Murphy returned to the Central Supercomputing Laboratory in the Soviet Science and Technology City.

Complete recall is extremely mentally taxing, and being closer to your supercomputing device helps ensure computing power support.

Having prepared, Murphy lay down on a specially designed recliner and then chanted the incantation to himself, "Full recall!"

Memories surged like the sea, stretching to the endless horizon. Murphy's consciousness, like a tentacle of wind falling from the sky, was drawn into the sea by the channel of memories echoing from the gene list.

"The Original Intention and Mission of the Human Genome Project (HGP)"—a post commemorating the 20th anniversary of the project, offering a general introduction and popular science explanation, but it was useless…

"The four maps constructed by the Human Genome Project are the genetic map, __, __, and __."

Uh, it's an exam paper, probably a biology test. I don't know when I saw it.

"Third-generation gene sequencing technology..." I've already seen that.

"Sleep-related genes, ABCC9..."

Murphy glanced at it and it seemed to be on the list. However, this genetically modified vampire was basically the same as the wizard, with only two base pairs differing. But the queen's main symptom was narcolepsy, which could be an important research direction.

Research on photosensitivity disorders caused by gene mutations...

Oh! This might be useful, however, Murphy only glanced at the paper at the time, and basically only the first two or three sentences were clear to him.

Having used full recall many times, Murphy already had experience dealing with this.

He stared at the clearer text, then focused his attention on it as if he were actually reading the paper.

A moment later, some blurry words became clear: "Researchers have discovered that the HEF gene is 90% the cause of this photosensitivity disease. The HEF gene is responsible for transferring iron produced by the body to different cells..."

"HFE gene, what is that...?"

The naming conventions for the Human Genome Project in Murphy's original world and the Genome Project in this world's laboratory are not entirely consistent.

This makes it difficult to locate the corresponding gene location based solely on the gene name.

However, he also had Jawad label the first thirty sequences on the list, which, assuming no mutations, would be sufficient as unique identifiers for the genes.

Using the "HFE gene" as a search point, Murphy continued to search his memories to find the base sequence of this gene for comparison.

He kept diving into the deep sea of ​​memory, diving deeper and deeper, trying to dig out the smallest fragments.

As he continued to dive deeper, the Pioneer's computing power consumption began to increase exponentially.

"HFE, HFE..."

His consciousness tentacles, like an ever-expanding, increasingly fine net, relentlessly probed downwards.

The entire Pioneer supercomputer had reached over 90% power output. Just when he thought he would get nothing this time, his mind suddenly touched upon an extremely distant memory.

"Genetic Testing Interpretation: HFE, the Gene of Hereditary Hemochromatosis..."

Murphy immediately concentrated all the computing power here.

In an instant, my thoughts seemed to penetrate a barrier and finally reached that paper.

"Hemochromatosis is a chronic iron overload disease caused by an inappropriate increase in intestinal iron absorption, which leads to excessive iron storage in parenchymal cells such as the liver, heart, and pancreas, resulting in degenerative changes in tissues and organs, diffuse fibrosis, and metabolic and functional disorders."

"Most cases of hereditary hemochromatosis are associated with two HFE variants, both of which are point mutations. The most common is C282Y, and testing for it is standard practice. The other is H63D, which many laboratories test for..."

He tried to move his "eyes" and gradually the entire paper appeared.

He saw a yellowed printed paper with many stains on it. Gradually, he could also see the hands holding the paper. The hands were a rusty yellowish-brown.

"...No..." he heard his own voice, "No, that's not it..."

"It's not hemochromatosis. They are bloodthirsty because their hemoglobin has lost its vitality and needs to be replenished in this way... The pigment deposited on the skin's surface is due to the death of a large number of blood cells..."

"But the increase in iron is not due to elemental iron; their incredibly strong, steel-like defenses cannot be attributed to ordinary biological factors..."

"Bang! Bang!" Suddenly, a series of impact sounds rang out.

"They're here! They're here!" he cried out in panic, stuffing the printouts into his pocket. "Run! They're coming!"

"Them? What are they?" Murphy asked, puzzled.

"Zombie?! Are you stupid?! Wait, who's speaking?!"

The next instant, a powerful force of repulsion pushed him away.

His consciousness seemed to be pulled upwards from the top of a person's head, causing his vision to expand rapidly. He saw a collapsed European-style building, followed by a street filled with thick smoke. Countless screaming and running figures rushed into the building, and in the distance, a terrifying scream seemed to come.

Immediately afterwards, everything went black before his eyes, and then he opened them again.

The roar of the surrounding pilot server room was deafening, but Murphy looked completely bewildered.

What just happened?

Whose memories are I seeing?

(End of this chapter)