Group Three's residents steered clear of their boss. Well-honed instincts kicked in from years of bosses with no progress on projects with deadlines measured in months, not years. Doctor Mercer was quiet, but his expression and energy felt like a volcano about to blow.
Nagata Shigekazu, a biochemist, took one for the team. "Doctor Mercer, want a coffee break? It's on me." Mercer took the hint. Afterall, all the coffee was free in the office. They walked out of the room and towards one of the refreshment stations.
Shigekazu and Mercer sipped their coffee. Mercer wasn't budging, so he took the plunge.
"Good progress we're making, don't you think? Group One and Two are making strides, and our own stuff is chugging along."
Mercer was quick with a scathing reply. "We're chugging along in geologic time. And we shouldn't be." Shigekazu shrugged.
"No need to show that anger boss, we're on the same team. Might not be good for morale seeing you so upset. Progress is progress, and honestly this has been some of the best work I've had the pleasure of being involved in. Got to look on the bright side."
With that, they chugged their coffee. Shigekazu went back, probably to reassure the others. Mercer just stood there, thinking.
Why was Alex upset? Group One and Two's endeavors were going well. They were seeing real and practical connections to their lines of research. Already they had a glut of data and records to support their cases. Almost everyone was happy and well motivated.
Except Mercer's own home field advantage, his closest "people" were faltering. Group Three made up of the geneticists and such.
Ironic and frustrating. For centuries since the emergence of Quirks, people have been trying to find the "missing link" between genetics and metahuman abilities. It was obvious to see how a couple's children would have characteristics or mutations that came from their parent's quirks. However, trying to find "where" quirks were in DNA was the holy grail.
That wasn't the focus of Group Three's work. They were trying to find the genetic proof that hunger and starvation had real effects on quirk biology. Back in Mercer's time, scientists had found the ancestral genetic links to energy/calorie retention from GHRd3, heritability of BMI from biological parents, and the hypothalamus's role in the promotion/suppression of feeding behavior. In particular, naturally occurring leptin mRNA in human tissue correlated positively with amounts of fat mass. The early first breakthroughs Group Three had was the observed lighter concentrations of leptin in human tissue. And what would've had any other scientist publish their works immediately, was the fact that it was differentiated between the three classes of Quirks! Mutation type Quirks had the lowest "baseline", followed by transformational, then emitter. Quirkless people have the consistently highest amounts of leptin.
Mercer helped in another way . Using the templates of past consumed humans pre-awakening, he stumbled upon the fact that certain humans before Quirk Emergence had different baselines for leptin! There were Pre-Quirk people he had consumed that had leptin levels equivalent or greater than that of Quirkless people, whereas most metahumans had a baseline that was well below of "regular" humans as well as far below Quirkless people. With this knowledge, he nudged the team towards intact studies that would prove this. He also put in a few requests for Pre-Quirk cadavers to actually have evidence beyond his own secret abilities.
All three groups, working in concert, found through testing that mutation types burnt the most calories, followed by transformational, then emitter. This would have been important enough by itself to publish, but this was only half of the puzzle. Atleast for Group Three. They could see the effects, but not the "why" of it. That was the key.
Group One and Two's combined work would change how the world viewed nutrition and health sciences. For centuries, the textbooks had been continually rewritten on the standards for Body Mass Index and other areas such as exercise. "Standard" baselines were affected by the emergence of Quirks.
There were obviously mutant type quirks, but underneath the obvious, there were issues across the spectrums of classifications.
Some quirks included new and novel organs into their users. Some created internal new chemicals that affected bodily functions. The sheer divergence of the human form in small and large ways made it a headache to truly standardize anything. But after centuries of practice, they had some kind of working system. A spectrum sliding scale was the best effort that more often than not, through trial and error, worked out. Only the most extreme body forms had issues, and even then science could be as much an art in dealing with issues day to day.
However, this didn't help Group Three much. They were stuck regardless.
Ironic he could help tip the scales for everyone but himself.
Alex was frustrated, and why wouldn't he be? The original Alex Mercer was a genius with genetics and biology, which was only enhanced with all the fellow Gentek and Blackwatch scientists he consumed.
His own pet project team wanted to study the genetics of hunger, starvation, and its effects on the three culturally differentiated categories of Quirks. What should have been his bread and butter was instead hardtack slathered with animal fat.
He decided to take his mind off of it, and go further onto city limits. Pacing and infecting the lab with his poor attitude wasn't helping.
He couldn't take his mind off of it after all. He took relevant copies at home to study later.
Mercer decided to walk to the outskirts of the city, where it grew increasingly poorer and far more run down. His travels took him to an open air scrapyard, where a gang of children, middle school looking delinquents, are rooting around.
Boys being boys as they ran and laughed as they hauled junk and shiny parts to oversized bags.
"Isn't all that junk useless and dangerous for you kids?" Alex savored the fear and wariness from the kids, most of them looking like they were caught with the cookie jar. After the shock and countless jumps or flinches, they then tried to save face by rallying together.
Cute.
The biggest and oldest looking of the group spoke first. "Whadda want mister?" The young boy was definitely protective of the younger boys, placing himself square in front of the kids.
"Nothing, except making sure no one here gets tetanus." And to alleviate his boredom.
"You some kind of doctor?" The skinny and small child made for a belligerent juxtaposition in how tough they tried to look.
"I am some sort of doctor, actually." Now, he was looked upon like some sort of millionaire who was slumming it.
After a short back and forth, Mercer found himself treating the ragged band of misfits to a local fast food shop.
They made for a strange sight.
The delinquents had big mouths and even bigger appetites. Money was no concern for him, thankfully. The band of kids didn't question the charity, too eager for a free meal.
After they ate their fill, Alex decided to question them.
"Shouldn't you kids be in school or something?" It was strange for them to be out and about on a school day.
One of the older kids spoke up. "The teachers aren't teaching because they're barely making money. They've been protesting for weeks now."
Another, younger child chimed in, eager to be a part of the conversation. "My momma said the best teachers go deeper in the city, and she said the only ones that stay are the really dumb or the really nice. Most of them must be dumb, I think."
A quieter kid with a scar on his nose spoke softly. "My dad isn't doing so well. I'm trying to find stuff to sell."
They painted a mosaic that Mercer could grasp well enough. He reclined back carefully, not wanting to break the fragile furniture. "Seems like much of what you've been collecting are heaps of garbage. Not worth it at all."
They glowered at him petulant, defensively protecting their "job".
"Even if ninety-nine percent of it seems useless, the one percent pays off."
Alex pondered this long after they left, the heat beating down his back as he walked further onward. Junk that ended up being useful. Where had he heard that before?
Wait, fuck.
The thought stayed with him as he powered on home with a purpose.
His teams were dealing with bottlenecks and uneven progress. The practical lines of research are displaying immediate and amazing results. However, Group Three has been stuck for a while.
But if his hunch was right, they'd be getting a shot to the heart with this idea.
He had members of the group meet in one of the city's various higher end restaurants. With the nature of many of their clientele working at RIKEN, there was no shortage of private dining areas.
They sat down around him, talking as they finished appetizers and waiting for the entrees.
Alex coughed to get everyone's attention. They all fell silent.
"How do we determine gene functions?" Everyone at the table laughed, and why wouldn't they? They were all seasoned professionals. This was a question for Biology 101.
When they stopped laughing and saw him waiting for an answer, they felt bewildered.
Suzuki Umetaro stepped up to the plate. He was the kind of person who as a kid would always try to answer a question first.
"Molecular beacons and reporter constructs have been the gold standard for centuries. Works out for animals and humans, except when it comes to Quirks." Nods went around the group. Many countries had tried to find the holy grail of where Quirk genes were located to no avail.
Doctor Mercer nodded and continued further.
"In my distant past, genetic research was spurred on by examining chromosomal disorders and mapping the human genome." His batch of scientists leaned in, not wanting to miss out on valuable history. Or not wanting to seem bored in front of their boss.
"Overtime, they noticed certain genetic markers would be more "active" over a period of time in people with the same conditions. In particular, in the Netherlands, the Nazi occupation ended up starving much of the population. In the decades to come, children and grandchildren born after the war had higher rates of conditions such as obesity, diabetes and schizophrenia. There was also a general propensity of weight gain. The starvation essentially "silenced" certain genes. While all cells in a person's body share the same genes, different ones are active or silent in different cells based on conditions in the environment. That program largely is locked in place before birth."
Doctor Watanabe Masayoshi looked very excited. "I remember reading about this when I was doing research for my thesis! Because of their discoveries, geneticists decades later found the genes for hunger. The removal of the KSR2 gene promoted obesity. And they found what MC4R was responsible for, from controlling appetite, weight control, and energy balance. They pioneered serial analysis of gene expression, or SAGE."
Alex was very pleased. He was surrounded by the best of the best. "But what you may not know is in my time, scientists such as myself learned that later experiences — say, exposure to a virus — can cause cells to quiet a gene or boost its activity, sometimes permanently."
"The study of this long-term gene control is called epigenetics. Researchers have identified molecules that cells use to program DNA, but how those tools work isn't entirely clear."
Mercer paused to let everyone digest what he was saying so far.
Blackwatch of course was a pioneer in such tools. CARNIVAL I's success led to the human experimentation in CARNIVAL II. Nothing happened. Not until the children of Hope, Idaho were born.
Of course his colleagues didn't need to know about those details, so he went back on the topic at hand.
"In essence, I've got a new idea we should pursue. Who here remembers what junk DNA is?"
They scrambled to remember the university classes a lifetime away.
Dr. Riko was the first one to snap her fingers. "Non Functional DNA! Noncoding, no function."
Mercer nodded. "Good answer." She smiled and rewarded herself with an extra glass full of imported French wine.
One of the more disgruntled scientists spoke up. "What does junk DNA have to do with our work?"
"I've got a hunch that what we're looking for may not be in the traditional areas of DNA. I've read that even with studies over the years, virtually all genes related to possible Quirk function are still unknown and unfound, correct?"
Nods went around the room. The genie was firmly still in the bottle. Who knew what the world would look like if people could edit Quirk genes? Not that it wasn't a fool's game, because like all functions of the body, there would be dozens if not hundreds of gene areas that would have to be narrowed down, and all adjusted carefully. Genetic engineering was always tricky. Quirks complicated everything it touched.
"So we've got to look where no one bothered to look in. That's our edge." And one of their only options left, but he didn't include that. No need to demoralize them when there was so much more work to be done.
Their entrees came, and with it, the end of the conversation.
As Alex ate, he thought of this gamble and why he thought of it. Junk DNA was an integral key to the understanding and usage of REDLIGHT/BLACKLIGHT. With so much non-coding DNA, it would have been easy for people to overlook it.
Had he left even 1% of his colleagues alive, they or their students would have eventually thought of it. Everyone in Gentek or Blackwatch's science division were all young by the standards of most scientists or professors.
After tonight, he'd get the team's attention on it ASAP.
In the pleasant haze of desserts and cigarettes, they argued for the sake of it. From the feasibility of such research, trying to poke holes, and just for plain fun. There was the length of time involved, the difficulty in finding the genes responsible, and "measuring" the activity.
Mercer told them one simple thing.
All great ventures required patience and sacrifice. This was worth it.
In the next few months, Group Three examined genes for hunger and weight control. Before they dived into junk DNA, they needed to find the roots, then see where they went.
Group Three's researchers found the genes responsible for appetite and hunger were overactive, while genes for weight control barely had any activity.
In SAGE tests, they found something odd. These genes seemed to "communicate" with genes associated with hair and eye color? And even more amazingly, they went to noncoding DNA within strands for hair/eye color. The genetic markers lit up when they stimulated hunger genes. The team then had to isolate the enormous amount of genes to sift through.
It was like finally having a metal detector in a giant field of haystacks. They had the tools and rough location, now all they needed was time and effort.
Mercer also got his hands on Pre-Quirk cadavers. The entire operation took weeks of negotiations and wrangling, but they finally had Pre-Quirk cadavers to compare. It was a hassle having to interrupt his days to meet with Ethics Committees and other watchdogs in order to access Pre-Quirk, intact human bodies. All donated to science, but coveted for their value and significance. It was a boon to have a government fully and enthusiastically on your side. This allowed them to comb deeper through older genomes and see with new eyes on the differences in generations of humanity.
It took them another two months to sequence the genomes for the DNA. To properly test the lab grown flesh samples against modern day humans took another month.
One of their most important theories was also the simplest. Since eye and hair color were the most frequent mutation, even in Quirkless people, why not check the genes for those areas? Of course those are still hundreds if not thousands of genes to sift through. And to test/explore.
They needed iron-clad proof.
The team's work was slow and steady, comparing Quirkless people with a variety of subjects. Children under six with no Quirks yet, and all three categories of Quirk types.
When they searched genealogy, older research, medical papers, and Quirk records, they found those with the lowest amounts of leptin were positively correlated with a greater chance of they or their offspring having a Quirk!
They also tested weight loss in Quirk usage, hunger/leptin levels with quirk usage positively correlated.
That in itself was worthy enough to publish, but this was only a fragment of the whole puzzle.
Then came the overwhelming discovery. The "communication" between the overactive hunger genes and hair/eye color genes all originated from the noncoding DNA area. Junk DNA. It was like someone in a trash heap with a radio giving orders to a five star general.
Mercer's hunch paid off. But instead of striking gold, he hit the motherlode of platinum.
Quirk mechanisms were hidden in junk DNA, notably where hair/eye color genes are located. Which also happened to be where the most common quirk mutations occurred since the first metahuman.
Every time they tested it, they found activity from those areas of junk DNA. They expanded their scope to pregnant women and children before and after their Quirks came in. For children below four to six years old, who have not had their Quirk kick in yet, they found minimal activity from the junk DNA area. After their Quirk arose, they found a veritable hive of activity.
Just as whales, dolphins and bats, despite being disparate species, all shared common genes for echolocation, all types of metahumans and even Quirkless people shared a wide array of active junk DNA communicating to the rest of the body's genes.
All chemical markers, gene waves. and epigenetic tags all seemed to be coming from the junk DNA areas of the hair and eye DNA.
Then the wildest part was discovered by chance when a subject was casually using their Quirk.
The subject was a kindly old grandfather. Mr. Kōreishya's Quirk allowed him to enlarge any part of his body that had veins running through them. That's why he was usually the favorite around the lab, since it was easier to draw blood. Even from novices.
Ōmura Satoshi just happened to be running gene scans while Mr. Kōreishya's Quirk was active.
"Is this right?" Satoshi was bewildered looking at the heightened "communication" between the observed junk DNA segments and the rest of the body.
"Mr. Kōreishya, can you stop using your Quirk for a moment?"
"For you young man, anything!" He was a naturally gregarious older man. He really felt like he was contributing to science, and everyone was fond of talking to him.
Everything went darker in activity.
"Can you turn your Quirk back on?"
The hair and eye color genes along with the hunger genes lit up like a christmas tree.
They found the absolute holy grail of quirks. This was where it seemed the "brain" of Quirks came from. Why was it that many of the first metahuman changes and most frequent Quirk alterations were to the hair and eye color? Now they cracked the case! They knew there was communication and "pings" from the junk DNA to the rest of the body, but they didn't quite know what it meant until Quirks were being used while being scanned!
And to think this all came from a study about the connection between epigenetics, Quirks, and calorie usage!
The entire lab was aflame! They had to temporarily poach Group One and Two researchers to assist them with the sheer volume of data they were trying to quantify and put together.
Overall, their findings were dense.
Group Three found that small silencing RNAs are the primary building blocks of Quirks.
Quirk's themselves are the mutation and mixture of many different RNA/DNA seemingly working in tandem.
However, the sheer complexity of quirks means that it's strange that relatively there is not enough "coding" overall in these identified quirk gene structures. Where are the "heavy weights", dense instructions for quirk genes exactly?
Almost like it's being outsourced. Like a genius with all the building plans and data, teleconferencing with workers who only get enough instruction to build up the plan in increments.
The small RNA keeps getting transmitted from one generation to another independent of the DNA. Normal small RNA spreads from cell to cell, and in certain cases is even transferable.
The most troubling fact? All forms of small RNA such as dsRNA are produced primarily in nature in reaction to viral infection.
The research team identified genetic pathways that activate in response to calorie inhibition, such as long term malnutrition to outright starvation. They identified protein translation genes that were inhibited, and found that it kickstarted an entire reaction. Mutant types were the most sensitive, followed by transformational, then emitter.
The genes that regulated protein synthesis were almost underactive in mutant types. In "baseline" humans, this meant a propensity towards obesity and an increase in chances of getting Type 2 diabetes because it often tripled fat stores in preparation of starvation survival.
There were almost five hundred genes that were determined to be fat regulatory genes, and almost two hundred for hair, eye and skin color. Tracing them through genetic markers and just the time needed to see them "activate" was definitely the issue Group Three had. It took time to see effects, time to organize and go over different genes, examine the junk DNA each time for anything new happening, and if they were positively correlated with the correct gene activation was a headache. They had to triple their staff and outsource help just to stay on track with Group's One and Two.
The main issue was how difficult, nearly impossible epigenetic experiments were; changes resulting from external rather than genetic influences. Genetic mechanisms were already known to affect people and their children in cases of extended starvation after all. Was it so far-fetched that the same could apply for Quirks? The inheritance of beneficial traits on such a fast level to combine traits and not have the host body be killed by their Quirk was certainly a possibility. Small RNAs, which regulate gene expressions, were essentially off/on switches. These off/on switches could be anything for genes. Fat absorption, viral/bacterial immunity, the possibilities were endless and only the chaos of Quirk Emergence stifled the field in the cradle until now.
Signaling pathways were the first clue in determining where, exactly, the genes responsible for Quirk expression and regulation were located in. Junk DNA, or better thought of as "nonfunctional DNA", was often thought of as DNA sequences that have no relevant biological functions. However, Blackwatch's work on REDLIGHT revealed how it "activated" junk DNA, often to the detriment of living creatures.
Such as spontaneous organ failures in under a month.
There was detectable biochemical activity in these junk DNA areas, but only with the usage of Quirks!
Which was how they stumbled upon the holy grail of Quirk genetic science.
Quirk functions, mechanisms, regulation and mutations were all found in the junk DNA areas where the genetic information for hair, eye, and skin color were found. The first real "Quirks" ever to be documented always had enormously different hair/eye/skin mutations from the on-set, and are the most frequent mutations for metahumans, Quirkless or not period.
Energy expenditures in metahumans over time could be extreme compared to other culturally differentiated categories of Quirks. In order from most to least were, mutant types, transformational, and then emitters.
Of course, all hard scientific facts needed context and examination.
Despite the population staying the same or even decreasing, food consumption has gone up without a significant rise in overweight ness or obesity. Demand for food and the amount of land dedicated to crop and animal production has doubled every 20 years.
Most likely due to higher energy expenditures by Mutant types, it's probably the reason why there were disproportionate populations of Mutant-types in prisons and generally poorer socio-economic conditions. They just needed more, and often couldn't get it. Mutant-type metahumans were already discriminated against for their experience or Quirks, which kept snowballing overtime as Quirks grew more complex with each generation.
Quirks put a higher food requirement to sustain it. A controversial take by one of the scientists involved the so-called "Quirk singularity". According to them, the acceleration and complexity of Quirks over time create abilities which require more and more energy.
But according to the consensus in the lab, Quirk Singularity Theory was just a fringe theory espoused by a discredited scientist and accelerationists.
What was clear on the social scientist side, was that Quirks imposed new dietary needs on the population. This could be where much of the increased crime stems from, besides power imbalances. It always led back to caveman and Bronze Age thinking. Resources could be gone at any time, and therefore violence and domination were often the answer.
There was a furious flurry of activity at Mercer's building. Like a kicked hornets nest, everyone scrambled with manic fervor to their duties.
What was the cause of this uproar? Three months ago Doctor Mercer, the project lead and overall leader of operations had committed his team to a peculiar line of research that hadn't ever been touched upon.
As soon as each team and discipline started deep dives and research, they soon found themselves inundated with reams of data.
By the first month, they had so much to draw upon.
By the second month, it was a manic frenzy collecting surveys, in person interviews, and collecting DNA.
And the third month contained so many new revelations and relevant data that the implications were immediately clear. It was agreed that they would release a preliminary report. Such was their confidence and importance they placed on getting even the preliminary findings to the government and wider population.
Group Three with the hardest of research was reinvigorated with Mercer's inspiration and genius. They were able to catch up or even exceed the progress of the other groups.
To think that they stumbled upon the location of Quirks as a side note to their main research points. Like looking for new antibiotics but finding new medicine to combat cancer.
So much rushing around. The mad dash to organize their citations, to make sure everyone involved was properly credited.
And this was just the beginning. They all understood the gold mine they unearthed. And it was all because of one person.
Alexander J. Mercer. A man out of time and place. Who brought new ideas and perspectives no one else could have thought of.
The final day was finally upon them. It was time to publish.
"CALORIC EXPENDITURE/INTAKE AND ITS IMPACT ON CULTURALLY DIFFERENTIATED CATEGORIES OF METAHUMAN ABILITIES OVER TIME"