China's Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) unveiled a list of the top 10 domestic scientific advances of 2021 on Feb 28. The work done by a team from the Biophysical Society of China (BSC) was listed for providing insights into SARS-CoV-2’s mechanisms for antiviral drug evasion.

The in trans backtracking proofreading mechanism of SARS-CoV-2. [Photo provided to bsc.org.cn]

Lou Zhiyong and Rao Zihe, professors of Tsinghua University and BSC members, together with Gao Yan, an associate researcher from ShanghaiTech University, revealed and replicated an intermediate state in cap synthesis, mRNA capping complex and proofreading complex of SARS-CoV-2 and unveiled their working mechanisms. Their studies presented a structural snapshot of SARS-CoV-2 RTC, provided evidence that the nsp12 NiRAN domain catalyzes the formation of the cap core structure and revealed the process of cap structure synthesis.

This scientific advance provides a target for the development of broad-spectrum antiviral drugs, found that the virus eliminated mismatched bases and antiviral drugs through an in trans backtracking proofreading system, shedding light on the molecular mechanism of remdesivir and other drugs’ poor effects and providing key scientific references for optimizing antiviral drugs against polymerase. 

Other selected scientific advances include the Tianwen-1 Mars probe's landing on the Red Planet, the launches of the Tiangong space station's Tianhe core module and the Shenzhou XII and XIII manned spacecraft and their dockings with the module, the artificial synthesis of starch from carbon dioxide, lunar samples collected by the Chang'e-5 probe, the Five-Hundred-Meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope reporting the largest set of fast radio bursts ever detected, the large-scale production of high-performing fiber lithium-ion batteries, quantum walks on a programmable two-dimensional 62-qubit superconducting processor, a self-powered soft robot swimming in the Mariana Trench, and the causes of bird migration routes and key genes of long-distance migration.

Hosted by MOST 's High Technology Research and Development Center, China's top 10 scientific advances have been selected for 17 consecutive years. More than 3,500 well-known experts and scholars, including academicians with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, directors of state key laboratories, specialists and project leaders of major projects listed in National Key R & D Programs, as well as experts and chief scientists involved in National Key Basic Research Program, voted for the top 10 scientific advances among 30 candidate projects.