100: Chapter 100 The Uproar in the Classroom

Zhao Yang's voice was not loud, but in the deathly silent classroom, it sounded exceptionally clear.

"The most classic mechanism involves the interaction between G protein-coupled receptor kinases (GRKs) and β-arrestin."

Professor Zhou Hong's originally cold and stiff lips twitched slightly.

Just from that opening, he was using professional terminology!

And it was accurate and flawless!

Zhao Yang did not pause and continued:

"When a GPCR is activated by a ligand, the conformation of its intracellular domain changes, exposing serine and threonine residues. At this point, GRKs are recruited to the vicinity of the receptor to phosphorylate these residues."

"Although the affinity of the phosphorylated receptor for G proteins does not change significantly, it binds with high affinity to the β-arrestin in the cytoplasm."

"The binding of β-arrestin sterically hinders the further coupling of G proteins to the receptor, thereby cutting off signal transduction downstream; this is what is known as 'desensitization'."

Zhao Yang paused at this point.

The classroom was deathly silent.

Everyone had their mouths wide open, staring at Zhao Yang as if they were looking at an alien.

The pen in Li Tianqi's hand fell to the floor with a 'clatter', but at this moment, no one noticed.

"What is he saying?"

"Why do I recognize every single word, but when they are put together, I can't understand them at all?"

"Damn! Brother Yang truly lives up to his name!"

"I originally thought Brother Yang only had exceptional talent in Informatics, but I never expected his talent in Biology to be this impressive!"

Not only Li Tianqi, but Wang Mian and Sun Xu beside him were also looking at Zhao Yang with eyes filled with surprise and admiration.

The students of Biology Class 1 were all looking at Zhao Yang with eyes full of admiration.

Only Gu Qing was slightly better; she already had an idea of Zhao Yang's level in Biology.

Her uncle had already tested Zhao Yang's Biology level before, and it was completely equivalent to that of an average graduate student. Gu Qing was not surprised at all that he could answer Professor Zhou Hong's question.

The anger in Professor Zhou Hong's eyes had completely dissipated, replaced by an unbelievable shock, and even a hint of… excitement!

She was also doing research in this field, so she naturally knew that every word Zhao Yang said was correct!

Moreover, such fluency and such logic could never be achieved by rote memorization; this was true understanding!

"That's not all."

Zhao Yang did not intend to end it there. Since he was going to show off, he might as well do it big and thoroughly resolve future troubles.

He changed the subject and continued:

"Traditional views hold that β-arrestin is only responsible for blocking signals. However, according to an article published in 'Nature' this year regarding 'Novel Signal Transduction of Seven-Transmembrane Receptors', after β-arrestin binds, it also acts as a scaffold protein to recruit clathrin and mediate receptor endocytosis."

"More importantly, after endocytosis, the receptor may not only be degraded but may also continue to send signals on endosomes to activate the MAPK pathway. This means that GPCR signal transduction is multidimensional in both time and space."

"Therefore, the simple term 'desensitization' cannot actually fully encompass this complex biological process."

After speaking, Zhao Yang looked at Professor Zhou Hong politely: "Teacher, I have finished answering."

Silence. A suffocating silence.

A full five seconds passed.

Professor Zhou Hong seemed to wake up from a dream. She took a deep breath, and the way she looked at Zhao Yang became extremely complex.

She had just read the abstract of that 'Nature' paper last week and hadn't had time to read the full text yet!

Yet, this freshman in front of her could already talk about it with such ease?

Professor Zhou Hong pushed up her glasses, and for the first time ever, her tone carried a hint of gentleness: "Not only is your foundation solid, but you are also able to follow international frontier developments. That viewpoint regarding β-arrestin as a scaffold protein is indeed a hot topic in the academic world this year."

She looked around at the other stunned students and said in a deep voice: "Did you all hear that? This is the gap! While you are still rote memorizing textbooks, Student Zhao Yang has already started reading top-tier journals!"

"Zhao Yang, you may sit down."

Professor Zhou Hong waved her hand: "In the future, during class, as long as you don't affect other students, you don't have to turn off your phone, but try to go outside to take calls. If you feel that the content I am teaching is too shallow, you may also read your own books."

Whoosh—the whole class was in an uproar!

What kind of treatment is this?

This is an officially certified "Get Out of Jail Free Card"!

Obtaining this kind of privilege in The Nun Miejue's class is simply a miracle for the Yanjing Forestry University School of Life Sciences!

"Awesome… Brother Yang, you are truly awesome!"

As soon as Zhao Yang sat down, Li Tianqi excitedly grabbed his arm and hissed in a low voice: "You were so cool just now!"

Those people from Class 2 who had previously questioned Zhao Yang were now blushing, and they didn't dare to say another word.

So he wasn't unrefined; he was just hiding his true abilities!

No wonder he could decline the Dean's invitation; he truly had the confidence to do so!

Zhao Yang just smiled faintly and didn't explain much.

He took out his phone and glanced at the message Li Xun had just sent.

"Mr. Zhao! Four Trillion Plan has been announced! Taihang Cement and Conch Cement have both hit the daily limit with a straight line! There are tens of millions of shares in pending orders! We can't even buy in! Your previous prediction was god-like! Our current floating profit has already exceeded eight million! And it's still skyrocketing!"

Looking at that string of adrenaline-pumping numbers, Zhao Yang's mood was surprisingly calm.

In his left hand, he held the key to the truth of Biology, and in his right hand, he held a massive amount of wealth capable of shaking the capital market.

That little "disturbance" in the classroom just now was nothing more than a small interlude in his brilliant life.

The bell rang for the end of class.

Professor Zhou Hong packed up her teaching materials and did not leave directly as usual, but walked straight to Zhao Yang's desk.

The originally noisy classroom instantly became a bit quieter again.

"Zhao Yang."

"Teacher." Zhao Yang stood up.

"Are you interested in coming to my laboratory?"

Professor Zhou Hong got straight to the point as she looked at Zhao Yang.

"I see that you have great insights into signal transduction, and I happen to have a project on hand regarding G protein domain mutations that needs an assistant. Although you are only a freshman, I can make an exception to take you in."

The surrounding students were so envious that their eyeballs were about to fall out.

Entering Professor Zhou Hong's laboratory!

That was a place so many graduate students would break their heads trying to get into! That was the fast track to being recommended for graduate studies and direct doctoral programs!

"I'm sorry, Professor, I am currently interning in Professor Gu Ming's laboratory."

Zhao Yang said to Professor Zhou Hong with a slight apology.

"So you are Professor Gu's student… no wonder."

Professor Zhou Hong said with some regret: "Although you are interning with Professor Gu, my laboratory also has its own insights in the specific field of signal transduction. If you have any confusion in this area in the future, or if you want to change your environment to do some small projects, the doors to my laboratory are always open for you."