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6
Biotechnology Literature Survey
The following section summarizes the analysis of 160 articles published in
Chinese scientific journals. Conducting a literature survey to In insights into
Me content and quality of China's biotechnology research was justified for several
reasons. First, essentially all research performed in China is published in Chinese
journals, in part because scientists receive a bonus for each article. Second, it was
hoped Hat Be survey would provide access ~ research perfonned at institutes in
remote locations Rat were not visited during He evaluation trip. Third, it was
possible to have outside experts review articles on science topics with which the
authors were not familiar. All articles were read by at least one and, in many
cases, by two or more expert reviewers. As all of He reviewers had some
familiarity with science in China, He assessments of reach originality and
accuracy are reasonably uniform for different disciplines.
SOURCES
The journals and number of articles reviewed in He survey are listed in Table
4. The selection of articles was from three major sources.
Chinese Journal of Biotechnology. This is a ppecialt, jomnal Hat publishes
scientific articles and reviews on applied biotechnology and closely related basic
research. Because of the relevance of Ads journal to this report, every research
article published between Volume 1-1 (1985) and Volume 3~ (1987) was surveyed.
Scientia Suuca. This journal, which is published by CAS in English, is
generally considered to be China~s most prestigious scientific journal. Similar to
22
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BIOTECHNOLOGY LITERATURE SURVEY
TABLE 4 Sources for Literature Survey
23
Number of Papers
lomnal Language Renewed
Chinch Jo~al ~fBiotechn~ogy Chinese 71
Scat a Silica English 41
Acta Gcnetica Sinica Chinese 10
Acta Bu~c)dmica ct. Biophysica Chinese 10
Knee Tonghao (Science Reports) E;ngJ'ish 5
J - rnolofXiamenU~versity Chinese 5
Acta Microbidogica Swca these 4
Acta Biologicac Ex~crunen~lis Smica (`nese 4
Acta Physiologica Struck Chinese 3
Acta Zoolog~ca Sow These 2
Jaunt of Fudan Uni~crs;ty Chinese 2
Acta A~hropo~ogica Silica Chinese 1
Jackal of China Unn~ers;ty of Science Chinese 1
and Technology
ActaScientiaru~mNaturalu~m Chinese 1
Um~ersitatis Pekinens~s
Total 160
the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States, it
publishes articles considered to be of broad interest in several areas of the natural
sciences, physical sciences, and mathematics. The survey included every article
published between January 1987 and February 1988 relevant ~ either basic or
applied b; - chnology.
Chinese Science Abstracts (Life Sciences). This publication contains English
translations of abstracts of all articles published in 61 Chinese journals on the life
sciences. All abstracts relying to biotechnology were surveyed for Be period
1986 to 1987, and relevant articles were selected and obtained from ~e National
Library of Medicine or the Library of Congress.
Journals in China, as elsewhere, vary in prestige, quality, and the rigor of the
peer review process. Except for Be arbitrary inclusion of all articles from the
C - ese Journal of Biotechnology, the survey was strongly biased toward the
most interesting articles in what are considered to be the best journals in China Id
addition, a serious endeavor was made to include articles on basic research, in
particular in biochemistry (e.g., protein structure) and genetics (e.g., gene
regulation). Besides the final 160 articles that were thoroughly reviewed and
included in Be survey, about 200 additional manuscripts were examined briefly.
While including these articles in Be survey might have better met standards for
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24
TABLE 5 Geographical Distribudon of Articles Cited
CS~ or Price
Number of Attides
Shank
Bei3mg
~-
mamen
Wake
Hangzhou
~ ·.
11~ -
Hef"
Guy
Cha~gdu
Jisnggu Pmvince
Jilin
Q~ou
Sbiji~uang
Wuxi
Dot
Fuzhou
HI
Hewn Province
Nanjing
Suzhou
anyaDg
Total
68
59
5
4
2
160
BIOTECHNOLOGY IN CHINA
statistical analysis, it seems unlikely that it would have affected the qualitative
conclusions.
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
Despite a desire to have the survey compensate for He necessity of confining
the evaluation Hip to major cities in eastern China, it did not, in the end, reveal
much infonnation about He research being conducted in remote areas. As shown
in Table 5, He majority (80 percent) of the articles were from institutes in
Shanghai and Beijing, reflecting the concentration of research centers in these two
cities. The relative paucity of articles Tom other geographical areas suggests that
the increased funding of CAS institutes and universities in provincial areas has
not yet had a substantial effect on Heir scientific productivity.
TECHNIQUES
The use of various techniques reported in He articles surveyed is summarized
in Table 6. Several interesting points emerge. First, techniques for cloning and
analyzing DNA molecules were noted in more On half of He articles, which
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BIOTECHNOLOGY LITERATURE SURVEY
TABLE 6 Techniques Used in He Articles Surveyed
25
Technique
Number of Percentage of
Octagons G.~.
DNA analysis
DNA clog 33 21
lion engine analysis 37 23
Soud~em blat 8 5
DNA sequencing 9 6
O]iganucle~de These 3 _
57
RNA analysis
cDNA clog 1 1
Nor~em blot 2 1
RNA sequencing 1 1
Id ~ ~nscnpuan, tIanslaiion 2 1
4
PI analysis
Highs an separator: HPLC, PAGE 10 6
Airily purification 2 1
P=temsequenang 4 3
Pepude synthesis 2 1
X-ray crystallography, NMR 5
14
Immunological methods
Monobl~1 and polyclonal antibody production 8
Assays: RIA, Ff ISA
s
6
4
9
Animal technique,
Call allure and hybrid cdl lines 7 4
Gene transfer into cultumd "us 6 4
Gene transfer mto animals 4 3
11
Plant and microbial technique"
r-11 end tissue assure 18 11
Plant regenemnon 10 6
P~xLplast fusion 10 6
23
Bioprocessmg
Controlled fermentation 12 8
linm~i~d enz~nt~es and cells 10 6
14
miner
Electron niicmscc~py, Clay miaasnalysis 4 3
Computer modeling 3 2
5
aAb~iations: cDNA, complementary DNA; HPL(:, high performance liquid chromatography;
PAGE,polyac~ylamide gel blemophc~sis; NOR nuclear magnetic mscnance; RIA, radiounmunoassay,
ELISA, enyme-linked immunoso~ent assay.
"Rounded to the neatest integer. Note Cat these percentages add up to greater Can 100 because some
articles described the use of more than one teclmique.
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26
BIOTE{:HNOLOGYIN CHINA
indicates their widespread use. On contrast, techniques for analyzing RNA
molecules were smilingly unde~e~en~ Thus, although Here is good capability
for isolating genes, Here is weakness in understanding how they are expressed
and regaled. Second, tile use of sophistic techniques for protein analysis
was s~pnsingly well represented Third, as might be expected from He emphasis
on agriculture in China, there was widespread use of plant tissue culture and
regeneration techniques. On general, this analysis suggests Hat the various
techniques composing modern biotechnology have become widely available In
China.
EXPERIMENTAL ORGANISMS
The organisms used in each article were coiffed under two categories:
(1) The `'organism studied" refers to He species whose biology is being investigated,
and (2) He 4'organisrn used" refers to He species actually used in the expenments.
For example, for an micle describing He production of human interferon in
Escherichia coli, He organism studied is human and He organism used is E. coli.
A summary of the data on experimental organisms is presented in Table 7. I he
most unponant organism used was E. coli, the routine host for DNA-cloning
experiments. Also popular were He yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, used for
protein expression wow, and economically important smains of andbiodc-pToducing
fungi. The organisms studied reflected the emphasis of China's biotechnology
research. There was areLatively strong emphasis on agncul~ral research, whereas
animal research was predominancy directed toward humans An interesting
sidelight was He substantial number of articles on species of special interest to
China, namely, fish (mostly species used for aquaculture3, He siLkwonn, the
panda bear, and the Peking duck.
A noteworthy point of As analysis was He complete lack of research using
certain species widely used in Westem countries. In particular, Here were no
articles on Drosophila melanogaster or Caenorha~ds elegans, the two most
useful organisms for studying animal genetics and developmental biology. There
was only one article (of low qualify on Xenopus Species, and none on sea urchins,
despite the wealth of embryological data on these organisms.
RESEARCH TOPICS AND GOALS
Because' of the multidisciplinary nature of biotechnology research, it was not
always simple to assign a single research topic to any given article. Taking this
into account, each article was categorized according ~ two systems: scientific
discipline (Table 8) and research goal (Table 9~. For instance, an article on
computer modeling of He hepatitis B surface antigen protein would be classified
as "biochemistry, protein structure" under scientific discipline and "applied,
human vaccine" under research goal.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
research articles
BI077~1NOLOGY Lrl~ERATURE SURVEY
TABLE 7 Experimental Organisms
27
Orgamsm Studieda, Organism Used,
O~arnsm Number of Percentage of Number of Percentage of
Gt.au~ TIC amu~ amu~c
Bad
E. coti 9 6 47 30
Bacillus 9 6 5 3
Stleptamyces 6 4 4 3
Over 5 _ 4 3
19 39
Fungi
S. cerc~isiac 5 3 16 10
Andbioi~c producers 14 7 14 9
Over 4 _ 4 3
13 22
Rice
Maize
Tobacco
Fruits
Other
Art
s
6 4
9 6
6 4
4
3
22
5 3
4 3
7
6 4
-
17
4
Human 16 10 5 3
Over mammals and rodents 6 4 3 2
Birds (mostly duck) 5 3 2 1
Amphibians ant fish 9 6 ~ 5
Silkworm 5 2 2 ~
5 12
Vinlses
HepaiibsB 9 6 4 3
Other anunal 4 3 2 1
Inset 5 3 9 6
Plam 8 5 5 3
17 13
See tan for
28
TABLE ~ Sciatic D~ciplim
BIOTECHNOLOGY IN CHINA
Discipline
Number of Crayons Percentage of
C:itati a
Mde~ biology and genetics
Gene blanmg and Hessian 20 13
Gene region 11 7
Papulanon genetics 5 3
Gene mappmg 4 3
M~ionand~nbinanon 6 4
Other 3 2
32
Biochemistry
Pin mumure 14
~~gY S
Snuct~c and metabolism of natural products S
ldund~d <=talym 1 1
Other
3
9
3
3
7
7
29
Miachiology.
Strain molanon and charactenzanon 11 7
Fennentaiion 9 6
13
Virology
Shuck 5 3
Deteclic~n and p~enuot1 3 2
Botany
Plant propaga~al 16 10
Physiology and anatomy 5 3
l~nunology
Diagnostic reagents 10 6
Other 2 1
Other
Developmental biology 3 2
Cell biology 4 3
Neurobiology _ _
16(} 8
7
fRo~mded to do nean st integer. Each crayon was assigned to a single discipline.
iOther Han molecular biology and genetic citations.
BIOTECHNOLOGY LITERATURE SURVEY
TABLE 9 Research Goal
29
Gal
Number at ~itaca~s Percentage of
Citadel a
Bloc
Genetics 15 9
Biochemistry 18 11
Other 17 1 1
31
Awlied
Foodstuffs and natum1 products 21 13
Andbioucs 14 9
Therapeutic prows 11 7
Diagnostics 1 1 7
linpraved awns species 6 4
Proved plant species 14 9
Human vacanes 1() 6
Atonal Vaccines 9 6
Hant va~nes and he*,iades 6 4
Other 8
160 70
fRounded to the nearest integer.
biology (seven articles for both fields combined) and protein-nucleic acid
interactions (no articles).
The research goals of the articles surveyed are summarized In Table 9. Applied
research was favored over basic research by a more than two-tmone margin. The
most impmant applied goal was the production of foodstuffs and other natural
products, with antibiotic fermentation and the improvement of agricultural crops
close behind. The most important conclusion from this analysis is Hat a close
correlation exists between research funding priorates and the research that is
actually performed.
EVALUATION OF RESEARCH
Reviewers were asked to evaluate He scientific o¢iginalin~r and accuracy of
each article according to He following cnterua:
Originality
A. Very original. Describes a new phenomenon or technique or yields
significant information on an important problem.
B. Original. Describes new results in an area of basic or practical significance.
30
BIOTECHNOLOGY IN CHINA
C. Somewhat derivative. Repeats previous research but uses a different
organism or a slightly different approach.
D. Very derivative. An exact copy of already published research
Accuracy
A. Very thorough. Proves Me point conclusively.
B. Good. The ~ point is not in doubt.
C. Weak. Insu~cientd~
D. Unacceptable. Poor experimental design or inerpretabo~would not be
published in a U.S. Journal.
A summary of these evaluations, broken doom by We as basic or applied
research, is provided in Table 10.
In terms of onginalin,r, basic research articles far outstripped applied research
articles. For example, 22 percent of We basic research articles were considered to
be '~very original" as compared win only 3 percent of the applied research
articles. More striking was the fact that X1 percent of the applied research articles
"repeat previous research," either completely or win only minor changes in
methodology or experimental material. Many of these articles described either
the isolation of genes already cloned in the West or Me production of previously
descn~ mmenals. For example, more Man half of the applied genetics articles
described the cloning of genes already sequenced and published in international
journals. Because virtually all such journals have Me policy ~ published clones
must be made available to all who ark for ~em, this represents an especially
fruitless expenditure of time and resources. One Chinese colleague quipped,
"Many of the experiments are like Xerox copies, only made win brash and ink."
TABLE 10 E,raluabon of Research
Type of Research
Number af ~aiials per Category
Basic (50 oracles)
Applied (110 ambles)
Basic (50 ambles)
Applied (110 articles)
A
11
ad
B C
18 17
17 46
D
44
A
10
31
Accuracy
B C
21 16
47 23
D
9
See tan for deElninons of me letters under Be headings of onginali~ and accuracy.
B 1 0 7 7 = H N O L O G Y I d T E R A T U R E S U R V E Y
31
The evaluations of scientific accuracy showed a greater equality between basic
and applied research More than half of both types of articles were considered to
"prove the point n Those Hat failed this test did so more often because of a lack of
completeness lamer than genuine Cults in experimental design or interpretation.
Several reviewers commented on Be tendency to split a single body of work into
several articles.
