Chapter 392: Deep Diving

"Besides the unique chromosomes of vampires, there's about a 0.01% difference in the base pairs of the rest of the chromosomes between vampires and ordinary wizards, involving roughly 140 genes. Some gene differences are minor, while others are entirely additional," the leader of the vampire research group, Jawad, handed a report to Murphy, briefing him on the latest research progress.

"We can roughly determine the function of twenty-three of these genes; as for the rest, we're basically still in the dark," Jawad said. "To target treatment effectively, it's best if we clarify the functions of these unique genes, find the key genes causing their photophobia, and then correct or knock them out."

"How long will it need?" Murphy asked.

"That's... hard to estimate..." Jawad replied. "Our understanding of the genome is still very basic, and no one has conducted this type of research before. There's almost a void in this area of literature, so we have to start from scratch with control experiments, searching for corresponding molecular channels... Even with the Time Accelerator, while the expression time of traits can be greatly reduced, the overall amount of experiments is too large to give a specific timeframe..."

It was only 1996, and the Human Genome Project had just begun in history, with human knowledge of genes still at a very basic stage. Umbrella and the magic laboratory had already advanced much faster than the world, but even so, it was just a start.

In fact, many of the remaining tasks no longer faced significant technical barriers. With Cas9 gene editing technology and the Time Accelerator, perhaps it would only take four to five years for human achievements in this area to catch up with the pace of the future decade or two.

But Murphy was somewhat impatient. Sofia was already showing signs of world-weariness, and waiting another four to five years might lead her into depression.

There were other methods to solve the Empress's condition through magic, such as high-level Animagus transformation, which had a chance to replace the vampire genes in the Empress's body.

But high-level Animagus transformation was still a black box in terms of details. The combination and retention of human and animal genes after transformation were uncertain. It might be successful, but there was also a significant chance it could worsen.

Murphy himself was a victim of the black box state of transformation pathways; his genetic defect had not been resolved to this day, one of the reasons he strongly promoted the genome project.

The more you know, the more you understand about specific genes, the more you can control the overall transformation process. What's lacking now is "knowledge."

However, there was a way to gain knowledge.

Murphy thought for a moment and said, "List those genes' positions and codes for me, marking the initial thirty base pairs."

Most of these differential genes were already known in humans, with their corresponding traits and potential uses largely explored in the future. Murphy planned to dig into his memory again to see if he could sift through some related information.

After receiving the list, Murphy returned to the Soviet Science City, to the central supercomputing lab.

Total recall was extremely brainpower-consuming, and being closer to his supercomputing Horcrux helped ensure computational support.

Prepared, Murphy lay in a specially made chair and cast a spell on himself, "Total Recall!"

Memories like a sea churned and spread to the horizon, while Murphy's consciousness, like a tentacle falling from the sky, followed the memory echoes triggered by the gene list, being drawn in, diving into the sea.

"Intention and mission of the Human Genome Project (HGP)," a post about the 20th anniversary of the genome project, mainly introduction and popular science, useless...

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

Hmm, it turned out to be an exam paper, probably a biology question he had seen at some point.

"The third generation of gene sequencing technology..." he had already reviewed this.

"Sleep-related gene, ABCC9..."

Murphy noted this seemed to be on the list, but this gene was almost the same in vampires and wizards, with only two base pair differences. However, the main symptom of the Empress was narcolepsy; this could be a crucial research direction.

"Research on photosensitivity diseases caused by gene mutations..."

Oh! This might be useful, but Murphy had only glanced at this paper, with only the first two or three sentences being clear.

But having used Total Recall many times, Murphy already had experience dealing with this.

He focused on the clearer text, then poured his consciousness into it, as if he were reading that paper in person.

Soon, some blurry letters became clear, "Researchers found that the HEF gene accounts for 90% of this type of photosensitivity disease, with the HFE gene responsible for transferring iron produced by the body to different cells..."

"HFE gene, what's that?" 

Murphy's original world's Human Genome Project and the lab's genome project in this world did not entirely align in gene naming conventions.

This meant that it was difficult to locate the corresponding gene position by name alone.

However, he had asked Jawad to mark the first thirty sequences on the list, which, without mutations, were enough to serve as a unique identity code for the genes.

Using "HFE gene" as a search point, Murphy continued to scour his memory, looking for the gene's base sequence for comparison.

He kept diving into the depths of memory, diving deeper and deeper, trying to unearth those most minute fragments.

As he continued his deep dive, the computing power consumption of the Pioneer began to increase exponentially.

"HFE, HFE..."

His consciousness tentacle, like an ever-expanding, increasingly fine net, kept drilling down.

The entire Pioneer supercomputer had reached over 90% of its power output. Just when he thought he might come up empty-handed, suddenly, his mental tentacle touched a very distant memory.

"Genetic testing interpretation: HFE, hereditary hemochromatosis gene..."

Murphy immediately concentrated all computing power there.

In an instant, the mental tentacle seemed to pierce through a membrane, finally reaching that paper.

"Hemochromatosis is a chronic iron overload disease caused by inappropriate increase in intestinal iron absorption, leading to excessive iron storage in parenchymal cells such as the liver, heart, and pancreas, causing degenerative changes and diffuse fibrosis, metabolic and functional abnormalities."

"Most hereditary hemochromatosis cases are related to two HFE mutations, both point mutations, the most common being C282Y, standard practice for testing; the other is H63D, many labs will test for this variant..."

He tried to move his "sight," gradually the entire paper became visible.

He saw a yellowed printout, stained with many marks, and gradually he saw the hands holding the paper, showing a rust-like yellow-brown color.

"...not..." he heard his own voice, "not right, not this..."

"It's not hemochromatosis, their bloodthirstiness is due to the loss of hemoglobin activity, needing to supplement in this way... The pigment deposited on the skin surface is due to the massive death of blood cells..."

"But the increase in iron is not elemental iron, their body's steel-like super defense can't possibly be a normal biological factor..."

"Bang! Bang!" Suddenly

, there was a series of banging sounds.

"They're coming! They're coming!" he panicked, stuffing the printout into his chest, "Run, they're coming!"

"Who? What are they?" Murphy was confused.

"Zombies, are you stupid?! Wait, who's talking?!"

The next moment, a powerful repulsion force pushed him away sharply.

His consciousness seemed to be pulled up from someone's head, rapidly expanding his view. He saw a collapsed European-style building, then a street full of thick smoke, countless screaming human figures rushing into that building, and far away, a terrifying scream seemed to come.

Then, everything went dark, and he opened his eyes.

The roaring sound of the Pioneer lab surrounded him, but Murphy was utterly bewildered.

What just happened?

Whose memory did I see?

___________________

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