“…… Yesterday, the United Nations convened an extraordinary meeting in New York to define an emergency plan to deal with the global crisis of the invasion of Martian bacteria. A research team composed of researchers from many countries will be stationed on the Moon Palace space station within a week to jointly study the strain. ”

"At the same time, according to the decision of the International Health Organization, the bacterium was officially designated as X-0172 bacteria."

"Huaguo News, report for you."

The coverage of the Martian germ ended, and the news on television continued.

Sitting at the dining table and enjoying breakfast quietly, Lu Zhou glanced at the calendar on his phone and muttered to himself.

"Eighty-seven days left."

Time is of the essence......

Picking up the remote control and turning off the TV, Lu Zhou took out a tissue and wiped his mouth, then pushed away the chair and stood up from the dining table.

"Xiao Ai, I'll trouble you when you clean up the dishes."

A quadcopter drone with a small TV hanging from the kitchen staggered over.

[Okay master, leave it to me!] ٩(•̤̀ᵕ•̤́๑)ᵒ】

After throwing the work of washing dishes and tidying up the table to Xiao Ai, Lu Zhou took a coat from the door and put it on his body, and then called Wang Peng.

Soon a black red flag stopped outside the villa and sent him from his doorstep to the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study.

In fact, strictly speaking, research in the field of biology is not the strength of the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study.

Especially in the unpopular branch of astrobiology, not to mention that the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study cannot find a person who studies this direction, even if it is placed in the top five national comprehensive universities in China, there are not many of them.

However, sometimes when it comes to research in frontier fields, it is not necessary to find a professional counterpart to do it. After all, the more cutting-edge things are, even if they are professional counterparts, they are at most a little more experienced, and everyone's starting line is actually about the same.

At present, the Institute for Advanced Study is the only one who can be called a leader in the field of microbiology, and Professor Liu Zuobing, who is in charge of the "cryodormancy" project.

Although his main research focus is cryobiology, he is in a sense more vocal about X-0172 bacteria because he often studies cell samples collected in extreme environments.

After all, X-0172 bacteria are also collected from extreme environments......

After getting out of the car, Lu Zhou went straight to the building of the Institute of Biology.

When he arrived at the lab, Professor Liu Zuobing and several of his students were busy observing and recording something in front of the electron microscope.

Without disturbing their research, and quietly waiting for them to finish the work at hand, Lu Zhou stepped forward and looked at Professor Liu and asked.

"Have the samples been delivered?"

"It's already delivered," Professor Liu Zuobing said with a smile and joked, pointing to the slide specimen placed on the microscope, "I bet this is probably the most expensive in the world." ”

Lu Zhou also joked.

“…… It is also estimated to be the most dangerous in the world. ”

Professor Liu Zuobing smiled and waved his hand: "Then don't worry, the specimens sent to the earth have been inactivated at the highest level, as long as they are operated in strict accordance with the provisions in the safety manual, there will be basically no problem." ”

Although he is a little sensitive to the word "basic", Lu Zhou still believes that Professor Liu's level should not make such a low-level mistake.

After a pause, Lu Zhou asked him what he was most concerned about.

"Is there any progress in the research?"

"There is a little bit of progress," Professor Liu Zuobing pushed down his glasses and continued, "According to the latest research results published by Professor Leslie and Professor Zhao Shuxuan, we can confirm that the drowsiness symptoms of the Ares Project colonists are caused by amino acid-like derivatives secreted by X-0172 bacteria during the formation of spores. ”

"Amino acid derivatives?" Lu Zhou frowned and continued to ask, "Is the problem serious?" ”

"It's not so severe that it's an amino acid-like derivative that's interesting because it doesn't hurt the host, and even ...... It is beneficial for the host. ”

Lu Zhou: "...... Beneficial? Can you elaborate with me? ”

"Assuming that there was an atmosphere, magnetic field, and even a rich ecosystem on Mars, when it encounters drastic geological changes or other external factors that cause Mars to become less habitable, the pheromones released by this bacterium when producing spores may potentially help the host survive the period of scarcity, just like hibernation." ”

Helping the host through periods of extreme climate is ostensibly helping the host through the difficult times, but in fact it is also helping the bacteria save themselves. Therefore, the relationship between this bacterium and the host is more like a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship than a parasitic relationship.

Speaking of this, Professor Liu Zuobing paused for a few seconds, looked at the thoughtful Lu Zhou, and continued.

"At this time, we have not found any other effects of this bacterium on the health of the host other than drowsiness. There is reason to believe that the secretion of pheromones belongs to an active defense mechanism of the bacterium, which helps the host to actively sleep by reducing metabolism and active dormancy. In this dormant state, the host's tolerance to extreme environments will be greatly increased, while only a small amount of energy needs to be consumed, guaranteeing a minimum of life characteristics. ”

Lu Zhou thought for a moment and then asked, "But what about the mechanism of releasing pheromones?" ”

"The problem is here, we haven't fully figured out the mechanism of its formation yet," Professor Liu Zuobing sighed, "There are two speculations at present, one is that when the host itself has an immune response to the foreign bacteria, the attack of autoantibodies forces the bacteria to produce spores for self-preservation, and at the same time, active dormant pheromones are forced to release." ”

"As for one possibility, stimulated by some external physical conditions, the bacteria judge that the host is in an extremely harsh environment and actively release spores and dormant pheromones to protect the host."

Although drowsiness is not a fatal symptom, if you doze off all day long, it is also quite a headache for a normal person.

At present, one of the three colonists has already discovered a similar situation, which means that the probability is at least one-third.

If one-third of the planet's population were to double the amount of sleep they spend each day, it's hard to say what impact it would have on modern society.

Lu Zhou pondered for a moment and asked, "Then which possibility do you prefer?" ”

Professor Liu Zuobing: "I prefer the first option. ”

Lu Zhou reacted immediately: "In other words, there may be antibodies to X-0172 bacteria in the colonist who has clinical symptoms of drowsiness?" ”

Professor Liu Zuobing nodded cautiously and said.

"It's hard to say, but I think it should be like this!"