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According to the official website of China Agricultural University on August 2, the projects funded by the "Pinduoduo-China Agricultural University Research Fund" have made important progress recently.

On June 12, the internationally renowned academic journal Nature published online a collaborative research paper titled "Smart Canopy Promotes Close Planting and Increased Yield of Maize" by Tian Feng's research group from the College of Agronomy and Li Jigang's research group from the College of Biology at China Agricultural University. This study identified the "smart plant type" gene lac1 in maize for the first time, revealing the molecular mechanism by which light signals dynamically regulate lac1 to enable maize to adapt to close planting, providing a powerful tool for rapid and targeted modification of commercial varieties, coordinated improvement of multiple traits, and de novo domestication of wild species.

Previously, on April 23, Wei Yulei from China Agricultural University and Yu Leqian and Guo Jingtao's team from the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, jointly published a blockbuster article titled "3D Construction of Gastrula Model of Early Human Embryonic Development" in another international authoritative academic journal "Cell", revealing for the first time that the caudal signal source of the human embryo regulates gastrulation movement, opening a new door for exploring the process of extremely early human embryonic development.

On May 9 last year, Pinduoduo donated 100 million yuan to China Agricultural University to establish the "Pinduoduo-China Agricultural University Research Fund" to support China Agricultural University in actively exploring ways to strengthen basic research and tackle key core agricultural technologies based on the country's major strategic needs and the forefront of global agricultural science and technology.

On May 9, 2023, the donation site of the "Pinduoduo-China Agricultural University Research Fund"

Among the 50 ongoing projects funded by the research fund so far, many have achieved important interim results. In addition to the above-mentioned papers, several other articles have been published in well-known academic journals such as The Plant Cell, Cell Metabolism, and Nature Communications, covering basic biology, cytology, plant biotechnology, food science and other fields.

　　Cell and Nature successively published the results of the funded projects

"Birth, marriage and death are not the most important moments in your life. Gastrulation is," said Lewis Wolpert, a pioneer in developmental biology.

Gastrulation occurs in the very early stages of embryonic development. Previous studies have shown that early miscarriage, various congenital genetic defects, and pregnancy diseases in humans are often related to abnormal gastrulation. Therefore, analyzing gastrulation has far-reaching clinical significance for exploring the life process, understanding miscarriage caused by abnormal early embryonic development, and intervening in the development of fetal diseases.

The results released by the China Agricultural University and Chinese Academy of Sciences team analyzed the human embryo in the CS8 period of the early human embryonic stage for the first time. Through spatial sequencing, 62 cross-sections of the embryo and a total of 38,562 data points were obtained. Based on this, the differentiation rules and functions of each cell lineage in the gastrula stage were systematically studied by relying on data analysis and embryo simulation. This provides important information for understanding early human embryonic development and related diseases, and also lays a scientific foundation for improving adverse pregnancy outcomes. It also means that the "black box" of the origin of human life in the gastrula period has the opportunity to be gradually opened.

The official website of the journal Cell released the achievement of "3D Construction of Gastrula Model of Early Human Embryonic Development".

In addition to basic research in the field of life sciences, a number of research fund-funded projects have produced breakthrough results targeting key technologies that "choke" agriculture.

Corn is the world's largest food crop, and increasing planting density is one of the key means to continuously improve corn yields. Relevant data show that the corn planting density in the United States generally exceeds 6,000 plants per mu, while the average corn planting density in China is 4,000 plants per mu. Discovering and utilizing high-yield genes and cultivating high-yield varieties that tolerate high-density conditions are important ways to improve China's corn yields.

The China Agricultural University team identified the "smart plant type" gene lac1 in corn for the first time, revealed the molecular mechanism by which light signals dynamically regulate this gene to enable corn to adapt to dense planting, and established a haploid induction line genetic transformation system, providing a powerful tool for rapid directional modification of commercial varieties, synergistic improvement of multiple traits, and de novo domestication of wild species. In view of the importance of the research results, in early June, Nature magazine published the scientific research results online in the "article accelerated preview" mode.

The important article "Smart canopy promotes dense corn planting and increases yield" was published online in Nature magazine.

Including the above-mentioned research, as of now, the "Pinduoduo-China Agricultural University Research Fund" funded projects have produced a number of high-quality and influential scientific research results, such as revealing the mechanism of action of postbiotics in human and animal nutrition and health, analyzing the related mechanisms for regulating the elongation of cucumber lateral branches, and discovering that endoplasmic reticulum autophagy of rice cells is involved in the initiation of disease resistance, and discovering a new mechanism for the recognition of anti-blast sensing receptors.

　Help create a free, open and cooperative scientific research environment

Since its establishment, the "Pinduoduo-China Agricultural University Research Fund" has provided two phases of project funding in 2023, funding a total of 50 ongoing projects, covering a number of fields including agricultural biological breeding, veterinary public health, food security, food safety, ecological security, biosecurity, and cross-cutting agricultural frontiers. Among them, a number of research results on rice disease resistance mechanisms and β-glucosidase-conferring corn disease and pest resistance have been published in internationally renowned journals. The first phase of funding projects in 2024 is still under review, and more than 100 project applications have been received so far.

It is reported that the "Pinduoduo-China Agricultural University Research Fund" is divided into two categories of projects for collection, selection and funding. Category A projects mainly target the "bottleneck" technology field of agriculture, and support scientific research teams to tackle key core technologies in agriculture. Judging from the projects that have been funded, the hosts of such projects are mostly academician-level scientists with strategic scientist thinking, who assemble teams in this field or across disciplines to carry out original and subversive technological research and prospectively explore solutions to scientific problems in the agricultural field. Category B projects mainly support young talents to target the forefront of world agricultural science and technology and conduct original basic research. The project leaders who have been funded so far include both "national talents" and young scientists and outstanding postdoctoral fellows introduced from top universities at home and abroad.

Sun Qixin, president of China Agricultural University, previously stated that China Agricultural University and Pinduoduo knew each other and cooperated because of agriculture. Pinduoduo's donation focused on technological innovation, fully demonstrating its support for agricultural development, its emphasis on agricultural technology, and its attention to agricultural education as a national enterprise.

It is reported that the projects funded by the "Pinduoduo-China Agricultural University Research Fund" have a high degree of flexibility in the use of funds. As long as they meet the actual needs of scientific research and the objective laws of research, and comply with relevant financial regulations, the project leaders have full control over resources.

China Agricultural University said that as the number of funded projects continues to increase, the fund will not only provide scientists with solid scientific research support, but will also build an interdisciplinary communication platform to create a free, open and cooperative scientific research environment for scientists, and help build a strong country in science and technology, agriculture, and talent.

"We congratulate China Agricultural University for its fruitful results in multiple scientific research fields. In the future, Pinduoduo will continue to support basic research and scientific research on agricultural 'bottleneck' technologies, and promote the birth of high-level scientific research results with international influence." Zhu Zheng, Chief Development Officer of Pinduoduo, said. (China News Service APP)