Decoding the traditional Chinese medicine: genes across a dream first step 

 
Source: this site release date: 2015-05-04 17:32:40 author: ruirui 

    For many people, used for thousands of years of traditional Chinese medicine, has been a mystery - took medicine, disease. But why is good, what work? I don't know. Professionals will this process is known as "black box". And in order to open it, for decades, people tried a variety of ways: the introduction of chemical analysis, to promote "fingerprint"... But most of the results was not significant.
 
    Now, is thought to be worth "gene".
 
    More than two months ago, the broad medicine group and the Chinese academy of medical sciences in Beijing diaoyutai state guesthouse, announced "danshen draft genome mapped successfully. This is the world's first released draft genome of medicinal plant, means that the broad medicine group in the world take the lead into the era of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) gene.
 
    A gene called "Chinese medicine" word for the first time in the line of sight of people. Then, "traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) gene" has become the major newspapers and network of high frequency words appear constantly. However, behind these blatant and noisy, researchers still maintained a consistent calm: this is to realize a dream of one thousand years of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and the first step. They hope that through the establishment of Chinese medicine gene pool, from any Angle of different study, the interpretation of traditional Chinese medicine "no word gobbledygook" of genetic information, crack authentic medicinal materials and the mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine of traditional Chinese medicine.
 
    Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) gene: like decoding the human genome
 
    Baiyun mountain salvia miltiorrhiza genome project has started from 5 years ago, by the broad medicine group, guangzhou baiyun mountain hutchison whampoa, Chinese medicine co., LTD., with the Chinese academy of medical sciences institute of medicinal plant cooperation. Project using the second generation of high-throughput sequencing technologies of salvia miltiorrhiza whole genome sequencing, and complete the salvia miltiorrhiza draft genome assembly. At present has reached 20 times the size of salvia miltiorrhiza genome sequencing depth, has covered 92% of salvia miltiorrhiza genome-wide sequencing results and 96% of the genes encoding area.
 
    Mention genes, it is easy to think of humanity itself. Is not only the human, every creature has their own genes, salvia miltiorrhiza, as one of the biological, certainly also has its own genes. Salvia miltiorrhiza draft genome mapping, is equivalent to that of the human genome project, only after is for human beings, and the sequencing of the target is a traditional Chinese medicinal plant -- traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Previously, the world has completed the arabidopsis, soybean, rice, corn, cucumber, and other economic crops of whole genome sequencing.
 
    The completion of human genome frame, marked the human entered the gene era. Today, Chinese traditional medicine into the gene era. After just, compared to before the post-genomic era, the era of gene can bring what kind of change?
 
    To explain this problem, and had to return to human genes.
 
    Open the "black box" : Chinese medicine mechanism is expected to be decoded
 
    "Thousands of enzymes in the body, the intake of the body." Guangzhou university of Chinese medicine pharmacology researcher, Chinese medicine discipline master unripe adviser, jin feng has focused on pharmacokinetic study. He said, one kind of drug metabolic enzymes, called CYP3A4 involved in about 50% of the clinical drug metabolism. It is easy to be a lot of material contained, guided by a small number of substances. As a result, the FDA regulation, each kind of new drug development process, all want to make a window to the enzyme, to study the metabolism of drugs and drug interactions.
 
    Qi jin feng had such an experiment. To take statin antihypertensive drug on mice, take the drug again immediately after drinking large amounts of grapefruit juice, the results showed that after drink grapefruit juice, CYP3A4 enzyme activity is inhibited. Due to the slow metabolism enzymes, drug concentration increases, effectiveness will be more strong. But for patients with high blood pressure, strong is not a good thing, because the efficacy of too much can cause the pressure was very low blood pressure, blood pressure caused by unstable.
 
    However, this is just a biochemical level, how to determine the correctness of this conclusion?
 
    "This needs further completed the level of gene, is the experiment on the surface of a gene, to further confirm." Jin feng said, "if suppressed, animals will rise slowly, RNA extracted by induction, is rising fast, difference came out."
 
    "21st century today, all human disease related research, ultimately convincing, to do the genetic level. Don't do this, not persuasive. This is the gene era with the former era gene and progress." Jin feng said, in life science, the purpose of human genome research, is to understand what each gene and the disease, so as to develop to "fix" the gene variant of new drugs. "Of course, in order to achieve this it will be a long time."
 
    In the same way, including western medicine, modern science of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) question is that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a mixture of many components, the various function composition mechanism is not clear for the treatment of disease. Therefore, in addition to clinical data, basic there is no way to determine which medicinal herbs are at work. Which is often said, the mechanism of Chinese traditional medicine is not clear. That need more from gene level, as a kind of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) gene and the disease how to do, how to "fix" lesions of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) genes and so on. To do this, of course, need more time.
 
    Urgent: use genes to solve medicinal herbs "China"
 
    After the first draft genome of medicinal plant were released, then draws some suspicion: the mechanism of Chinese traditional medicine have not clear, just blindly pursue gene at the level of the molecular biology research, isn't it too early? Even some people say that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) gene is more like a business.
 
    Is there a meaning? Indeed, to understand Chinese medicine how to "fix" the human disease genes, it is need to spend decades or even hundreds of years is likely to do. But for drug, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) gene to solve the problem of Chinese herbal medicine "China", is imminent.
 
    "In our view, the research of human genes is the needs of the industry to do strongly does." Wang Deqin, guangzhou baiyun mountain hutchison whampoa co., LTD., director of research and development, Chinese traditional medicine baiyun mountain salvia miltiorrhiza draft genome mapping work she almost all-the-way tracking. "Because there are abundant resources of traditional Chinese medicine in China, drug varieties and different habits, so varieties of all kinds of traditional Chinese medicine resources in the determination of the genetic map, establish a unified, the varieties of traditional Chinese medicinal materials of genome atlas, is a very important and necessary job."
 
    Beginning in 1997, 18 ministries and commissions under the state council jointly compiled the action plan for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) modernization of science and technology industry (program), the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) industry in China is a vast improvement. Combined with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003, people for the trust of Chinese medicine, Chinese herbal medicine consumption is rising sharply. In the case of radix isatidis, radix isatidis is a heavily and sales have been the rapid growth of medicinal materials. Radix isatidis many curative effect have been confirmed in the 1970 s, the annual sales reached 3000 tons; According to incomplete statistics, in 2006-2008, the national radix isatidis, accumulative total sales reached 60000 tons.
 
    A proprietary Chinese medicine varieties do as a child big, from weak and the strong, stronger and bigger when raw material constraints problems inevitably. These problems can be quantitatively, and more and quality.
 
    "Has been a great development of Chinese medicine Chinese herbal medicine resources are scarce constraints, at any time may face after China \ 'problem." Wang Deqin said, astragalus, licorice, notoginseng, etc in the traditional Chinese medicine is facing a serious lack of supply. As the main producing area of astragalus root is in Inner Mongolia, as a result of previous excessive picking, then grow slowly and cause a lack of supply.
 
    Another big problem is the quality of Chinese medicinal materials. Wang Deqin said, due to the land, water pollution is serious, many high quality Chinese medicine is now on the verge of extinction. That is to say, herbal medicine and now, five thousand years ago, "shen nong tasted grass bouquet" taste of herbal medicine have very big difference. Combined with the traditional Chinese medicine exquisite tunnel, different regions produced by the quality difference is big. These are restricting the development of proprietary Chinese medicine industry.
 
    Wang Deqin think, only to solve the constraints to increase production, to ensure the quality. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) gene research is trying to decode information, we will have the "genetic code" of medicinal plants, find out the active ingredients in Chinese medicine control functional genes, and to cultivate new varieties, improve the quality of Chinese herbal medicine production and substantially.
 
    However, whether through gene research to understand the mechanism of Chinese traditional medicine, or to solve the traditional Chinese medicine planting genetically bottleneck, this need quite a long time, but it is fair to say that salvia miltiorrhiza draft genome map may be for the first step by the good wishes in the above.
 
    "The father of the genome"
 
    The Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine winner, Sir John sulston is known as the "father" of genetic map. He is the winner of Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine in 2002, one of Britain's leading scientists. He together with waters at the university of Washington, identified the first genetic map of the world. 1990 genes in 1990, and completed the first animal in the world map. At the same time, from 1992 to 2000, as the university of Cambridge sanger, the director of the center part of the human genome project. In 2002, with Qiao Qina he co-authored the clues in life: science, politics, ethics and the story of the human genome, and was awarded the Nobel Prize for physiology and medicine.
 
 
 
The original link: http://www.cqwb.com.cn/ysbk/2015/wsqk_0504/200193092.html