According to the official website of China Agriculture University, the "PDD Holdings - China Agriculture University Research Fund" has recently made significant progress in its sponsored projects.

On June 12th, the collaboration research paper titled "Intelligent Crown Canopy Promotes Increased Planting Density of Corn" was published online by the College of Agronomy, China Agricultural University and the College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University in the international academic journal Nature. The study identifies for the first time the gene lac1 responsible for the "intelligent plant type" in corn, and reveals the molecular mechanism by which light signals dynamically regulate lac1 to enable corn to adapt to high-density planting, providing a powerful tool for rapid targeted modification of commercial varieties, coordinated improvement of multiple traits, and the domestication of wild species.

Previously, on April 23rd, Wei Yulei of China Agricultural University and the team of Yu Leqian and Guo Jingtao from the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences jointly published the heavyweight article "3D Construction of the Human Early Embryo Development Archenteron Model" in another authoritative international academic journal Cell, which for the first time reveals that the terminal signal source of the human embryo regulates the archenteron movement, opening up a new door for exploring the early embryonic development process of humans.

On May 9th last year, PDD Holdings donated 0.1 billion yuan to China Agricultural University to establish the "PDD Holdings-China Agricultural University Research Fund", supporting China Agricultural University in actively exploring the strengthening of basic research and key core technologies in the global agricultural field based on significant national strategic needs.

▲ On May 9, 2023, the donation ceremony of the PDD Holdings-China Agricultural University Research Fund. Jiang Pingping ▕Photo

Of the 50 ongoing projects funded by the research fund, several have achieved significant interim results. In addition to the aforementioned paper, several articles have been published in well-known academic journals such as The Plant Cell, Cell Metabolism, and Nature Communications, covering basic biology, cell biology, plant biotechnology, food science, and other fields.

Achievements of funded projects published in Cell and Nature

"Birth, marriage, death are not the most important moments of your life. Archenteron movement is." Lewis Wolpert, a pioneer in developmental biology, once said so.

The archenteron movement occurs in the early stage of embryonic development, and previous studies have shown that early human miscarriage, multiple congenital genetic defects, and pregnancy-related diseases are all closely related to abnormal archenteron embryonic development. Therefore, understanding the archenteron movement is of profound clinical significance for exploring the life process, understanding the early embryonic developmental defects that lead to miscarriage, and intervening in fetal disease development.

The achievement released by the team of China Agricultural University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences for the first time analyzed the human embryo at the CS8 stage, obtained 62 cross-sections and a total of 38,562 data points of the embryo through spatial sequencing. Based on this, the research systematically studied the differentiation rules and functions of various cell lineages at the archenteron embryonic stage through data analysis and embryonic simulation. This provides important data for understanding early human embryonic development and related diseases, laying a scientific foundation for improving adverse pregnancy outcomes, and also means that the black box of human life origin during the archenteron embryonic period has the opportunity to be gradually opened.

▲ The journal Cell released the article "3D Construction of the Human Early Embryo Development Archenteron Model" on its official website.

In addition to basic research in the field of life sciences, there have been several breakthrough achievements in key agricultural technology funded projects.

Corn is the world's largest food crop, and increasing planting density is one of the key means to continuously improve corn yield. Data shows that the planting density of corn in the United States generally exceeds 6,000 plants per acre, while in China, the average planting density of corn is 4,000 plants per acre. Therefore, exploring and utilizing genes with high density tolerance and high yield, and cultivating product varieties that are tolerant of high-density planting are important ways to improve the yield of Chinese corn.

The China Agricultural University team identified the "intelligent plant type" gene lac1 in corn for the first time, revealing the molecular mechanism by which light signals dynamically regulate the gene to enable corn to adapt to high-density planting. They also established a haploid induction system for genetic transformation, providing a powerful tool for rapid targeted modification of commercial varieties, coordinated improvement of multiple traits, and the domestication of wild species. Given the importance of these research findings, the Nature journal published the research work through its "accelerated preview of articles" mode in early June.

▲ Nature journal online published the heavy-weight article "Intelligent Crown Canopy Promotes Increased Planting Density of Corn".

Including the aforementioned research, as of now, the "PDD Holdings-China Agricultural University Research Fund" has produced many high-quality and influential scientific research achievements, such as revealing the mechanism of postbiotics' role in human and animal nutrition and health, analyzing the mechanism related to regulating cucumber lateral branch elongation, discovering that endoplasmic reticulum autophagy in rice cells is involved in initiating resistance to disease, and discovering a new mechanism for recognition of the immune receptor against chatty viruses.

Help create a free, open, and collaborative research environment.

"PDD Holdings-China Agricultural University Research Fund" has sponsored two projects in 2023, supporting 50 ongoing projects in areas including agricultural biological breeding, veterinary public health, food safety, ecological safety, biological safety, and interdisciplinary intersections in agriculture. Among them, many research results such as the mechanism of rice disease resistance and the resistance of corn pests and diseases endowed by β-glucosidase have been published in internationally renowned journals. The first round of sponsored projects for 2024 is still under review, with more than 100 project applications received so far.

It is reported that "PDD Holdings-China Agricultural University Research Fund" is divided into two types of projects for solicitation, selection, and sponsorship. Type A projects mainly aim at the agricultural "bottleneck" technology field, supporting scientific research teams to carry out agricultural key core technology research. From the projects that have received funding, the project leaders are mostly academicians with strategic scientific thinking, and they assemble teams in this field or interdisciplinary fields to carry out original and disruptive technology research, and explore innovative solutions to scientific problems in the agricultural field. Type B projects mainly support young talent aiming at the forefront of world agricultural technology to conduct original basic research. The project leaders who have already received support include national talented personnel as well as young scientists and outstanding postdoctoral researchers introduced from top universities both domestically and internationally.

Sun Qixin, the president of China Agricultural University, previously stated that China Agricultural University and PDD Holdings met because of agriculture and cooperated because of agriculture. PDD Holdings' donation focuses on scientific and technological innovation, fully reflecting its support for agricultural development, emphasis on agricultural technology, and attention to agricultural education as a national enterprise.

It is reported that the projects sponsored by "PDD Holdings-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 work and the objective rules of research, comply with relevant financial regulations, the project leaders have sufficient resource allocation rights.

China Agricultural University said that with the increasing number of supported projects, in addition to providing solid scientific research guarantees for scientists, the fund will also build an interdisciplinary communication platform to create a free, open, and collaborative research environment for scientists, and help build a strong nation in science and technology, agriculture, and talent.

"We congratulate China Agricultural University for its achievements in multiple fields of scientific research. In the future, PDD Holdings 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," said Zhu Zheng, chief development officer of PDD Holdings.