How the Zergs were Made

Chapter 9 Multicellularity

In a piece of boiling liquid that is constantly bubbling, a round-shaped creature is drifting with the current, riding the flow of the liquid, floating in this area.

"Very well, everyone is doing well."

"So now for the first closure, the inner cell is ready to divide."

Following Hogu's order, the front and rear openings of the floating cylindrical creature began to close slowly, as if a multicellular creature was closing its mouth.

"very good."

Huogu watched the whole process engrossed. To be honest, he still felt a little nervous.

This is the first trial operation, and Huogu cannot guarantee 100% that there will be no mistakes. Many things are sometimes so unexpected, just like the double-walled cell not long ago.

"Then start dropping enzymes into the cavity."

Following the instructions, a large number of enzymes capable of decomposing proteins were produced by the epidermal cells in the inner cavity, and released into the liquid in the inner cavity.

Those microorganisms trapped in this cavity, whether they are viruses, bacteria, or fungi, are being decomposed by the enzymes that spread out without exception.

The most priority to be decomposed are microorganisms such as viruses. Their structure is too simple. The outer shell is a layer of protein. Bacteria and fungi have a cell wall anyway.

However, the cell walls of bacteria and fungi can't last long. What they are facing is a group-level monster. If a single microbial individual like them wants to compete with it, it is tantamount to dreaming.

After another period of time, the microorganisms in the inner cavity were completely decomposed by the enzyme, and only amino acids remained in this pool of solution.

The inner wall of the cavity absorbs, handles, processes, and delivers these amino acids to the inner cells, which then transport these supplies to the epidermal cells as the main protection.

Huogu looked at the whole process with a little relief. Except for the initial opening and closing of the mouth that required it to give instructions, everything else was done by the cells independently, which can be regarded as a big improvement.

After that, Huogu continued to perform the second and third "eating" behaviors. From the results, they were not much different from the first time. They could perfectly kill those microorganisms and decompose them Absorbed into amino acids.

"Then the next step is to manufacture the vision system."

After confirming that he would not be threatened with his life for the time being, Huo Gu put the 'visual system' on the agenda.

Information is extremely important no matter what time of day it is.

Huogu now urgently needs to determine where he is so that he can formulate a survival strategy.

If you want to have an eye, you need the 'eye point', an organelle that can respond to light.

However, Hogu does not currently have such organelles.

"Eyes..."

"Since I don't have it here, I might as well snatch it from other guys."

"Well, let's do this, capture those microorganisms, analyze their genes, and then connect them to the original genes."

With this in mind, Huogu began to capture microorganisms.

The 'mouth' of the cylindrical creature slowly opened.

With the displacement and the flow of the liquid, the microorganisms are sucked into the inner cavity of the cylindrical organism without any resistance.

When the two through channels are completely closed, a large amount of enzymes are released, just like before, a large number of microorganisms are killed by the enzymes.

However, compared with before, there is still a difference. After most of the virus-like microorganisms are killed, the enzyme is just consumed.

mistake?

No, this was not a mistake, all of this developed as Hogu planned.

If there are too many enzymes, there will only be amino acids left in the lumen. If there are too few enzymes, the viruses cannot be completely killed, and the crisis like the previous phages may repeat.

The key is the amount of enzyme used, neither too much nor too little. The opening and closing of the mouth a few times before is not only to observe whether there are any defects in the design of this multicellular organism, but also to know whether the virus can survive in this full-bodied environment. How long can it survive in the environment of enzymes.

When the enzyme is consumed, the fluid in the lumen no longer has the function of breaking down the protein.

Those protein structures with connecting functions are stretched out, and they just stand horizontally in the liquid in the inner cavity, and the microorganisms that are locked in the inner cavity and scurry around are easily captured by these protein structures.

In this way, Hogu can directly observe the captured single-celled organisms from his perspective.

"Well... this is..."

Single-celled organisms like tadpoles have a relatively thick and loose cell wall on the outermost layer, which only serves to reduce collisions and cannot defend against viruses such as phages, or aggressive bacteria and fungi.

Then there is the cell membrane, which is nothing special. The composition and structure of the cell membrane are basically the same.

Finally, there was the little tail that kept swinging, also called the flagellum. This was the thing that surprised Hogu the most.

With this sample, he can design an external organ that drives the movement of the entire single-cell cluster. In this way, the safety factor is also increased a lot.

At least when the time comes, you don't need to worry about running away when you encounter danger.

"Leave aside the flagella for now, the key is to find single-celled organisms with organelles like 'eyespots'."

Huogu shifted his attention and began to look at another single-celled organism captured by the protein structure.

This time it is a single-celled organism with a double membrane and no cell wall. Compared with the previous single-celled organism, this single-celled organism is much more fragile.

There is no flagella on the outside, but it did not disappoint Huo Gu, because there is a suspected mitochondrial organelle in this cell.

Mitochondria can be said to be the engine of the microscopic biological world. Combining nutrients and oxygen, or other combinations, can realize the conversion of energy forms.

For example, light energy turns energy, chemical energy turns light energy, chemical energy turns heat energy...etc.

Even if this original mitochondria-like organelle can't meet Huogu's current needs, with this mitochondria as a template, Huogu can design a kind of mitochondria that belongs to single-cell clusters by himself.

"This is really good, but let's put it aside for now. Finding the eye point organelles is the most important thing. It's too dangerous not to observe the surrounding situation."

The long protein structure is swaying in the inner cavity, like a fishing line thrown by a master fisherman on the water.

One after another, single-celled organisms were caught by this thin line. Among them, there were various types of organelles, and there were all kinds of strange things, but the only thing was that no bacteria with 'eyespot' organelles were found.