2018年经济学人 进化生物学:古人类异血缘交配的证据 (2)

 

Furthermore, the fossil had Neanderthal mitochondrial DNA¹. This is passed from mother to child,

此外，化石中有尼安德塔线粒体DNA。这是从母亲基因中遗传下来的，

which meant that either the teenager was the daughter of a Denisovan father and a Neanderthal mother

这意味着这个少女要么是一位丹尼索瓦父亲和一位尼安德特母亲的女儿

or had come from a population with an extensive mix of traits, and had been born to parents who were, in effect, hybrids².

要么是来自于广泛性状相结合的一个群体，并且她的父母其实是混血。

Biologists know that animal populations of mixed ancestry³

生物学家知道那些没经历过什么进化变异的混血动物种群，

who are undergoing little evolutionary⁴ change show signs of this equilibrium⁵ in their genes⁶.

它们的基因中就有这种平衡的迹象。

Drs Slon and Paabo looked for just such markers in the genes of their Denisovan teenager and found none.

斯隆和派伯并没有在丹尼索瓦少女的基因中发现这种标记。

That ruled out the idea that she came from mixed ancestry.

他们排除了这位少女来自混血家族的想法。

They did, though, find that each chromosome⁷ pair the girl carried had one chromosome that was entirely⁸ Neanderthal in origin

虽然他们确实发现在女孩基因染色体对中有一个染色体完全属于尼安德特人；

and one that was almost entirely Denisovan. This signified that she had one parent from each group.

另一个染色体基本完全属于丹尼索瓦人。这表明她的父母分别来自这两支。

Knowing that the mother was a Neanderthal from the girl's mitochondrial DNA, means that her father must have been a Denisovan.

从这位少女的线粒体DNA中，我们知晓她的母亲是尼安德特人，这意味着她的父亲一定是丹尼索瓦人。

The 2013 analysis of the Denisovan fossil also showed interbreeding, albeit⁹ of a more distant sort.

2013年对丹尼索瓦人化石的分析也表明是异血缘交配，虽然这一支系更加遥远。

Add in this latest research, and although Neanderthals and Denisovans may not have met very often,

再加上这个最新的研究，虽然尼安德特人和丹尼索瓦人并不经常见面，

sex between them is likely to have been more common than was previously¹⁰ realised.

但是他们之间的交配可能比我们之前所认为的更加普遍。

The implication is that modern humans are likely to have a messier genetic¹¹ heritage than once thought.

这表明现代人类的遗传遗传比我们曾经以为的更加混乱。

1 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• 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。

2 hybrids   

n.杂交生成的生物体( hybrid的名词复数 )；杂交植物（或动物）；杂种；（不同事物的）混合物

参考例句：

• All these brightly coloured hybrids are so lovely in the garden. 花园里所有这些色彩鲜艳的杂交花真美丽。 来自辞典例句
• The notion that interspecific hybrids are rare is ill-founded. 有一种看法认为种间杂种是罕见的，这种看法是无根据的。 来自辞典例句

3 ancestry   

n.祖先，家世

参考例句：

• Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
• He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。

4 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

5 equilibrium   

n.平衡，均衡，相称，均势，平静

参考例句：

• Change in the world around us disturbs our inner equilibrium.我们周围世界的变化扰乱了我们内心的平静。
• This is best expressed in the form of an equilibrium constant.这最好用平衡常数的形式来表示。

6 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• 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

7 chromosome   

n.染色体

参考例句：

• Chromosome material with exhibits of such behaviour is called heterochromatin.表现这种现象的染色体物质叫做异染色质。
• A segment of the chromosome may become lost,resulting in a deletion.染色体的一个片段可能会丢失，结果产生染色体的缺失。

8 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

9 albeit   

conj.即使；纵使；虽然

参考例句：

• Albeit fictional,she seemed to have resolved the problem.虽然是虚构的，但是在她看来好象是解决了问题。
• Albeit he has failed twice,he is not discouraged.虽然失败了两次，但他并没有气馁。

10 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• 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。

11 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• 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。