Research progress and development trend of life science in the 21st century

In response to the rapid development of life sciences, governments of developed countries and some international organizations have successively put forward life-science research programs with huge investment, such as the International Geosphere and Biosphere Program, the Human Genome Mapping and Sequencing Program, the Human Frontier Science Program, the Decade of the Brain, and the Research on Biodiversity Utilization and Conservation. The Human Genome Mapping and Sequencing Project alone has a budget of $3 billion.

Due to the development of life science, the demand for talents has soared in recent years, in addition to more and more physicists, chemists and technical scientists have been attracted to the field of biological research, in the United States, for example, in recent years, the statistics of 480,000 doctoral degree recipients engaged in life science accounted for 51%. The flow of outstanding young scientists to the forefront of life science is the driving force and source of the prosperity of life science in the 21st century.

2. Major sub-disciplines and development trends of life sciences in the early 21st century

In the 1980s, visionary biologists listed molecular biology (including molecular genetics), cell biology, neurobiology and ecology as the four basic disciplines of current biological science, which undoubtedly correctly reflected the general trend of modern life science. Genetics (mainly molecular genetics) is not only currently a leading discipline in the biological sciences, but will retain its central role in the life sciences for years to come. Some scientists have long predicted that the combination of molecular biology, cell biology and genetics will inevitably promote the vigorous development of developmental biology, thus proposing that developmental biology will become the "new master" of life science in the 21st century, and this prediction has gradually become a reality.

The mainstream position of molecular biology (including molecular genetics) in the life sciences, and the huge role it plays in promoting the development of the entire life sciences is indisputable. Cell is the basic structure and function unit of life activities, cell biology as a basic subject of biological science must be paid attention to. Many bioscientists believe that the rise of neuroscience or brain science will represent the next high point in the development of the life sciences, which will then contribute to the rise of cognitive and behavioral sciences. Ecology may be the discipline that most directly serves human living environment and plays an important role in the sustainable and coordinated development of national economy.

A. Molecular biology

Molecular biology is a discipline that studies the nature and laws of life phenomena at the molecular level. Nucleic acids and proteins (some people think that sugar) are the most basic substances of life, so the study of the structure and function of nucleic acids and proteins is still the main content of molecular biology research in the future. Protein is the main bearer of life activities, and almost all life activities rely on proteins (including enzymes) to carry out. In addition to clarifying the structure of peptide chains formed by amino acids with a certain sequence, the study of protein molecular structure and function will pay special attention to the specific three-dimensional spatial structure of peptide chains in the future, because the biological function of proteins is closely related to its spatial configuration, and nucleic acid is the carrier and transmitter of genetic information. The transfer process of genetic information from DNA to RNA a protein, known as the "central law" of genetic information transfer, is the core of molecular biology (molecular genetics) research. Its basic problems have been relatively clear, the current research focus is:

(1) After about 10115 years, the complete sequence of 3 billion base pairs of the human genome (genetic code) can be measured, which is a milestone work;

(2) The regulation of eukaryotic gene expression at all levels is still a task for a long time to come. The concepts, methods and techniques of molecular biology and the penetration of various disciplines are forming many new disciplines, such as molecular genetics, cellular molecular biology, neuromolecular biology, molecular taxonomy, molecular pharmacology and molecular pathology. Therefore, the leading role of molecular biology in the life sciences will continue.

B. Genetics

Genetics is more independent than molecular biology. But modern genetics and molecular biology are inseparable, intersecting disciplines that are hard to separate. Some famous geneticists refer to genetics in general as genetics, because modern genetics is mainly the study of the transmission and expression of genetic information in organisms. The information carried by genes is determined by the structure of genes, and the expression of information is realized by the function of genes, so genetics studies the structure and function of genes. From the perspective of genetics, the mechanism of all life phenomena is ultimately related to the structure and function of genes. Therefore, genetics will remain the core discipline and driving force of life sciences for a long time to come.