HONG KONG - Over 7,000 new microbial species in the oceans were discovered by researchers from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), which made the results public on Monday.The new species found including acidobacteria, a natural medicinal phylum with the CRISPR gene editing system discovered at sea for the first time, shedded new light on human's understanding of microbial biodiversity in the oceans and brought hope to the development of new drugs.Led by Qian Peiyuan, a professor of the Department of Ocean Science at HKUST, the research team collaborated with peers from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, University of Georgia in the United States and University of Queensland in Australia on sourcing water samples across Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans.Over a span of eight years, the team developed biofilms with the water samples on different materials, eventually discovering more than 7,000 new biofilm-forming species and 10 new bacterial phyla, breaking the existing belief that the world has only 35,000 marine microbial species and 80 bacterial phyla.Acidobacteria, one of the new marine phyla identified in this research known only exist in terrestrial soils previously, has been used for developing novel antibiotics and anti-tumor drugs due to its high level of biosynthetic gene clusters.This is the first ocean species found to contain gene-editing system CRISPR, which is a family of DNA sequences found within the genomes of bacterial organisms like Escherichia coli. It confers resistance to foreign plasmids or phages and contains gene-editing capabilities.The CRISPR technology is widely used in agro-industrial and pharmaceutical genetic engineering to improve yield for soybeans, corn and rice, for instance, through enhancing the resistance of crops to pollution and natural disasters."The discovery of new marine microbial species has not only improved our understanding of ocean biodiversity, but more importantly, these species have big potential, both in terms of facilitating our understanding of lives and offering new clues to our search of new treatments for diseases," said Qian.The finding was published in the scientific journal Nature Communications. wristbands canadacustom silicone bracelets canadarubber bracelets canadasilicone bracelets canadasilicone wristbands canadacustom wristbands canadacanadian wristbandswristbands canada
As one of the most unique attractions in Hong Kong, Ngong Ping 360 is one of the world's top 10 amazing cable car rides. [Photo/VCG] HONG KONG - Around 1.83 million tourists visited Ngong Ping 360 in 2018, a famous tourist attraction in Hong Kong, up 75 percent from 2017, Ngong Ping 360 operator told the press on Tuesday. The average number of tourists per day increased by about 6 percent to 5,385, reaching a 10-year high, according to statistics released by Ngong Ping 360. In 2018, more than 50 percent of tourists were from foreign countries, 27 percent from the Chinese mainland and Macao, and 15 percent from Hong Kong. Last year saw an apparent growth in the number of tourists, Andy Lau, the acting managing director of Ngong Ping 360, said. He explained that the growth was brought by the official operation of two cross-border infrastructures, namely the Hong Kong section of Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link and Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. Before the official operation of the two infrastructures, we introduced our products to local travel agencies in the Chinese mainland and delivered customized offerings. During the Chinese New Year holiday, from Feb 5 to Feb 11 this year, the average number of tourists per day increased by 12 percent, Lau said. We will forge close partnerships with large-scale e-commerce platforms in the Chinese mainland, and introduce more high-end products to tourists in order to explore a bigger market in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Lau said.
