Chapter 18 Section 17

The lab overlooks the East River and the warehouses and dilapidated factories of Long Island across the river.Lewis Touro stood at the window, watching a huge barge full of garbage, escorted by countless seagulls, heading out to sea.He thought to himself: Maybe there is so much garbage in New York City every minute. Turo turned and sighed.He hates New York, but everyone has to make a choice.His options were to put up with the city and work in the best genetics lab in the country, or to work at some half-baked research institution, but enjoy the idyllic beauty.He has chosen the city so far, but his patience is gradually running out.

He heard a beep, and then the soft hiss of the microprinter.The system is producing results.There is another light beep, indicating that the printing task has been completed.The three million-dollar Omega 9 parallel-processing computer was completely silent, a row of gray boxes against the wall, with only a few small lights to indicate that it had been working.This particular model of hardwired computer was dedicated to DNA sequencing and mapping of genes.The reason Turo joined the lab six months ago was because of the computer. He picked up the printing paper in the output slot and glanced at it hastily.The first page is a summary of the results, followed by the nucleic acid sequences found in the sample.This is followed by columns of letters identifying the primer sequences and gene maps from the target set.

The target group for this sample is quite unusual, being the large Eucalyptus.The animals requested to compare their genes were Bengal tigers, jaguars, leopards and bobcats.Touro also included cheetahs because the genetic makeup of cheetahs is well known.The control group selected by the other party is Homo sapiens, which is a very common control item, in order to determine whether the gene comparison process is accurate and whether the samples are reliable. He scanned the summary of results. Turo thought: Damn it, that's bullshit.The exact opposite is true: the sample is closer to the control group than to the target group.There was only a 4 percent chance that the genetic material was from a big cat, but a 33 percent chance that it came from a human.

Thirty-three percent.It's low, but still within the realm of possibility. That meant he was going to try to compare the samples with GenLab. GenLab is an extremely large international DNA database, with 200 G of data, and it is still growing. It contains DNA sequencing data, primer sequences and gene maps of thousands of organic organisms, including everything from Escherichia coli to Homo sapiens.He wants to use the data to make a comparison with the GenLab database to find out the source of the DNA.It seems to be quite close to Homo sapiens, not to the level of apes, probably at the level of lemurs.

Touro was piqued with curiosity.He didn't know until today that the lab still works for the police department.He couldn't help wondering: Why did they think the samples came from big cats? The data results are as thick as eighty pages. The DNA sequencer prints out the identified nucleotides in columns, marking the species, identified genes, and unidentified sequences.Touro knew that most of the sequences would be unidentified, since the only organism with a complete genetic map is E. coli. Turo looked at the letters at a glance, and returned to the desk with the printouts in his arms.With just a few pushes of a button on a SPARC10 workstation, Turo can access information on thousands of data points.If there is no information he is looking for in Omega 9, the system will automatically dial into the Internet to find the computer that can meet his needs.

Turo looked at the result more closely, frowning.He thought: This must be a degraded sample, there is too much DNA to be identified. He stopped turning the pages.Here's something oddly odd: The program identified a chunk of DNA as belonging to an animal called Hemidactylus turcicus. Turo thought: What the hell is this?The biological nomenclature database answered him: Common name: Turkey Gecko What?Turo thought.He typed: Expand. Hemidactylus turcicus: Turkey gecko Origin: North Africa Present distribution: Florida, Brazil, Asia Minor, North Africa Medium-sized lizard, belonging to Gecko family, arboreal, nocturnal, lacking eyelids that can be opened and closed.This is obviously utter bullshit.Lizard DNA and human DNA in the same sample?But this isn't the first time this has happened.To be honest, you can't blame the computer.The method is not perfect, and there are only a few stretches of known DNA sequence for any organism.

He continued to read down the printed list.Less than 50% of the matched results belong to humans. If the subject is a human, this proportion is really low, but if the sample has been degraded, it is still within the range.Besides, there is also the factor of pollution to consider.One or two foreign cells can ruin an entire alignment.Touro was leaning more and more towards the last possibility.Well, the NYPD, what else can you expect from them?They can't even drive away the guy who openly sells white powder on the corner opposite his house. He continued to read.Wait a minute, he thought, another long sequence of Tarentola mauritanica.He connected to the database and entered the name.The screen shows: TARENTOLA MAURITANICA: Gecko.

Is that enough, Turo thought.Must be joking.He glanced at the calendar: Saturday is April Fools' Day. He started laughing.The joke is on a level.Very, very level.I thought old Mr. Buchholz couldn't joke.Well, a good sense of humor.He started writing the report.

---

Notes: