The shells of all insects in nature contain a substance chitin. If we can successfully find the key "trick" to determine the synthesis of chitin, we may develop effective green pesticides that can damage the growth and development of pests. Recently, Professor Yang Qing from the Institute of Plant Protection of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Institute of Agricultural Genomics and Researcher Gong Yong from the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences worked together to solve this problem that has plagued the global pesticide community for nearly 50 years, revealing for the first time the complete process of chitin biosynthesis, which may lead to the development of a number of new green pesticides and help pest control and biosafety. This achievement paper was published online in the internationally famous journal Nature on the evening of the 21st Beijing time. It is also the first paper in the field of pesticides in China in Nature. It is a milestone and an important symbol of accelerating the improvement of China's agricultural science and technology original innovation ability. Yang Qing introduced that chitin is crucial to the formation and development of insect shells, trachea and digestive tract. If we can understand its synthesis process, we can develop corresponding drugs to effectively control the growth and development of plant pests. At the same time, mammals and plants do not contain chitin. Therefore, new pesticides designed by synthesizing this substance as a pesticide target will not affect people, animals and the natural environment, which is safe and green. Yang Qingtuan has been devoted to the biological research of chitin for a long time, and has rich accumulation in chitin synthesis, hydrolysis and modification. The team took 15 years to analyze the three-dimensional structure of chitin synthetase, a key substance that affects chitin synthesis, through cutting-edge biotechnology such as cryoelectron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, and for the first time revealed the important process of chitin biosynthesis at the atomic level, and further explored the mechanism by which nikamycin can inhibit chitin biosynthesis. This achievement provides key molecular target structure information for creating green pesticides that are safe for humans and animals, and opens up a new direction for the reform and green development of pesticide industry. The review experts of Nature believe that "this work is innovative and undoubtedly has broad influence". Qian Xuhong, an academician of the CAE Member, commented that this research is one of the most important basic advances in global pesticide research and development in recent decades. (Outlook New Times)