科学美国人60秒 SSS 昆虫捐献DNA给无关的虫类
时间：2019-02-13 作者：英语课 分类：2018年科学美国人2月
Insects Donate DNA 1 to Unrelated Bugs 2 昆虫捐献DNA给无关的虫类
You can thank your parents for your DNA. Because humans share genes 3 through sexual reproduction, passing DNA from parent to child. It's known as the 'vertical 4 transfer' of DNA. Now imagine if you could share just one or two bits of your DNA with an unrelated stranger, through a handshake, or other incidental contact—and that stranger inserted your DNA into their genome.
你要感谢你的父母给你的DNA。因为人类通过有性繁殖分享基因，把DNA从父母传给孩子。它被称为DNA的“垂直转移”。现在想象一下，如果你能与一个不相关的陌生人分享一个或两个你的DNA，仅通过握手、或其他偶然接触，就能使陌生人把你的DNA到加入到他们的基因组中。
No sex. No offspring either. That's called the 'horizontal transfer' of DNA. It's obviously not how humans do it. But it's a mainstay of single-celled organisms like bacteria, which use the process to share antibiotic 5 resistance genes, for example. And now French scientists have found that horizontal DNA transfer could be a lot more common than we thought in multicellular organisms, too—insects, in this case. Because by analyzing 6 195 insect genomes, they found more than 2,200 cases of horizontal DNA transfer between unrelated species of flies and butterflies, beetles 7 and wasps 8.
没有性别，也没有后代。这就是所谓的DNA 的“水平转移”。很明显，人类并不是这么做的。但它是单细胞生物如细菌的主要方式，在使用过程中分享抗生素抗性基因，例如，现在法国科学家发现，在多细胞生物中，水平基因转移可能比我们想象的更常见。很多昆虫也是采用这种方式，通过对195个昆虫基因组的分析，他们发现了超过2200例无亲缘关系的苍蝇和蝴蝶、甲虫和黄蜂之间的水平DNA转移。
That total quadruples the number of horizontal DNA transfers previously 9 described in all animals, plants and fungi 10. The study is in the Proceedings 11 of the National Academy of Sciences.
水平DNA转移数量总共4倍于先前描述到的所有动物,植物和真菌。这项研究结果发表在《美国国家科学院院刊》上。
How exactly this genetic 12 transfer happens is still a mystery. Might be viruses, or parasites 13, doing the DNA delivery. But whatever the cause, it suggests that the evolution of insects, on a molecular 14 level at least, may be something more of a shared success story.
这种基因转移究竟是如何发生的仍是个谜。或许是病毒或寄生虫做的DNA传递。但不管是什么原因，它表明，昆虫的进化，至少在分子水平上，可能是一个共享成功的故事。
- DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
- Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。
- All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪
- The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
- Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。
- The doctor said that I should take some antibiotic.医生说我应该服些用抗生素。
- Antibiotic can be used against infection.抗菌素可以用来防止感染。
- Analyzing the date of some socialist countries presents even greater problem s. 分析某些社会主义国家的统计数据，暴露出的问题甚至更大。 来自辞典例句
- He undoubtedly was not far off the mark in analyzing its predictions. 当然，他对其预测所作的分析倒也八九不离十。 来自辞典例句
- Beetles bury pellets of dung and lay their eggs within them. 甲壳虫把粪粒埋起来，然后在里面产卵。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- This kind of beetles have hard shell. 这类甲虫有坚硬的外壳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
- There's a wasps' nest in that old tree. 那棵老树上有一个黄蜂巢。
- We live in dread not only of unpleasant insects like spiders or wasps, but of quite harmless ones like moths. 我们不仅生活在对象蜘蛛或黄蜂这样的小虫的惧怕中，而且生活在对诸如飞蛾这样无害昆虫的惧怕中
- The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
- Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。
- Students practice to apply the study of genetics to multicellular plants and fungi.学生们练习把基因学应用到多细胞植物和真菌中。
- The lawn was covered with fungi.草地上到处都是蘑菇。
- He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
- to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼
- It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
- Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。
- These symptoms may be referable to virus infection rather than parasites. 这些症状也许是由病毒感染引起的，而与寄生虫无关。
- Kangaroos harbor a vast range of parasites. 袋鼠身上有各种各样的寄生虫。