VOA常速英语2014--Scientists Decode Tsetse Fly Genome 科学家解密采采蝇基因序列

Scientists Decode 1 Tsetse Fly Genome 科学家解密采采蝇基因序列

Scientists have mapped the genetic 2 code of the tsetse fly, the insect responsible for African sleeping sickness.  They said the findings could lead to better repellents and control efforts and boost vaccine 3 research.

科学家已经绘制出采采蝇的基因序列，这种害虫能导致非洲睡眠病。他们说这一发现将有助于生产更好的驱虫剂，想出更好的控制手段并促进疫苗研究。

The World Health Organization reports African sleeping sickness occurs in 36 sub-Saharan countries. The bite of a tsetse fly transmits parasites 4 that could eventually reach the central nervous system causing confusion, sensory 5 problems and poor coordination 6. It also disrupts the sleep cycle giving the disease its name.

世界卫生组织报道有36个撒哈拉南部非洲国家都出现非洲睡眠症，被采采蝇叮咬后，寄生虫能最终抵达中枢神经系统，导致意识模糊、感知和协调障碍，还能破坏睡眠周期，这种病因此得名。

The WHO said drug treatment is “complex,” but without it the disease is usually fatal. Efforts to control tsetse populations brought the number of new cases below 10,000 for the first time in 2009. In 2012, just over 7,200 new cases were reported.

世卫组织称药物治疗很“复杂”，但如果不治疗，这种疾病通常是致命的。多亏了控制采采蝇数量的努力，2009年这种疾病病例首次降到一万个以下。2012年只报道发生了7200个。

Serap Aksoy is a professor of epidemiology of microbial diseases at the Yale School of Public Health. She and her colleagues in the U.S., Africa and elsewhere began searching the tsetse fly’s DNA 7 for its genetic code 10 years ago. The WHO provided initial funding. In all, the project cost $10 million.

Serap Aksoy是耶鲁公共卫生学院微生物疾病流行病学教授，她和在美国、非洲等地的同事10年前就开始寻找采采蝇的DNA来绘制基因序列，世卫组织提供初始资金，这个项目共耗资1000万美元。

“The genetic code is the blueprint 8 of the fly that is responsible for making all the proteins that are involved in all of its functions, essentially 9. These are involved in every aspect of the fly’s essential structure and function. They’re basically the parts list that an organism is made from,” said Aksoy.

“基因序列是这种苍蝇身上所有制造负责进行各种功能的蛋白质的蓝图，涉及苍蝇的基本结构和功能，基本上是构成生物的零件表。”

African sleeping sickness is the name given when the disease affects people. When found in animals it’s called Nagana.

非洲睡眠症是在人患上这种疾病时叫的名字，动物患上的这种病叫那加那病。

“Sleeping sickness, along with Nagana, have hindered public health and development of agriculture in Africa for centuries. This is a very neglected disease and hence limited amounts of research funds have gone into the study of this insect and this disease. So, we’re really excited that this will be a breakthrough for control,” she said.

“睡眠症和那加那病几个世纪来一直阻碍着非洲的公共健康和农业发展，这种疾病不被重视，因此用来进行研究这种害虫及其疾病的研究资金很少，所以我们很高兴能在控制方面取得突破。”

The genome could help researchers better understand just how functions within the tsetse fly work.

这一基因序列能帮助研究者更好地理解采采蝇的功能是如何进行的。

She said, “These included, for example, olfaction, which determines smell. What we call gustation, which is taste, vision, reproduction, digestion 10, blood feeding, immunity 11 and symbiosis 12. So, these were the kind of things, which we felt represented bottlenecks 13 in [the] fly’s biology. And as we decoded 14 the genome we particularly looked for proteins involved in these processes.”

“比如，嗅觉决定了气味，而味觉与味道有关，还有视觉、繁殖、消化、血液输送、免疫和共生，我们认为所有这些都是苍蝇生物学中的瓶颈，所以我们解密基因序列，也就是在寻找涉及这些过程的蛋白质。”

Olfaction is important, for example, because one of the best ways to control the flies is with traps. These traps use different scents 15 to attract them.

比如说，嗅觉很重要，因为控制苍蝇的最佳办法是用陷阱，这些陷阱使用不同的气味来吸引苍蝇。

“There are many such traps that have been developed for tsetse flies. But they are not necessarily all efficient at the same rate and not available for some of the important species that transmit the human disease. Scientists can now make better traps that would be more efficient in attracting flies or they can make repellents that may be put on animals on people,” she said.

“目前针对采采蝇的陷阱已经很多了，但这些陷阱的有效性不一样，不适用于一些传播人类疾病的重要品种。科学家现在能制作更好的陷阱，能更有效地吸引苍蝇，能制造可弄在动物和人身上的驱虫剂。”

Aksoy said it’s not clear whether the research could lead to better treatment drugs. But, she says, the information could help vaccine development. She added the research has led to the training of many young African scientists, who will further study the tsetse fly genome.

Aksoy说尚不清楚这一研究是否能促成更好的治疗药物，但她说这些信息将有助于疫苗开发。她还说这一研究已帮助培训了很多年轻的非洲科学家，他们将进一步研究采采蝇的基因序列。

Genome research currently is underway for other parasitic 16 diseases, including leishmaniasis, trypanosomiasis and Chagas.

目前正在进行其他寄生虫疾病的基因序列研究，包括利什曼病、嗜眠病和查加斯病。