2021年经济学人 昆虫阉割术,从根上消灭害虫(1)

Pest control

害虫防治

Cas-9-trated

CAS9阉割术

Genetic² engineering may help control disease-carrying mosquitoes

基因工程有助于控制携带疾病的蚊子

Every year, hundreds of millions of people catch mosquito-borne diseases like malaria³ and dengue fever. Hundreds of thousands die. Drug treatments are imperfect. And, despite decades of effort, vaccines⁴ have, for many of these diseases, proved tricky⁵ to develop.

每年都有数以亿计的人感染疟疾和登革热等蚊媒疾病，成千上万的人因此而死亡。药物治疗并不完美，而且，尽管经过了几十年的努力，但许多此类疾病的疫苗还是难以研制。

Better, then, to stop those infections happening in the first place, by exterminating—or at least suppressing—the mosquitoes that carry the diseases. In a paper just published in the Proceedings⁶ of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of researchers led by Craig Montell, of the University of California, Santa Barbara, describe how CRISPR-CAS9, a new and powerful genetic-engineering process, could help to do just that.

那么，最好从一开始就通过消灭——或者至少抑制——携带疾病的蚊子来阻止这些感染的发生。在刚刚发表在《美国国家科学院院刊》上的一篇论文中，由加州大学圣巴巴拉分校的克雷格·蒙特尔领导的一组研究人员，描述了CRISPR-CAS9(一种新的强大的基因工程过程)是如何帮助实现这一目标的。

Dr Montell and his colleagues used CRISPR to boost an existing control method called the sterile⁷ insect technique (SIT). This involves releasing lots of sterilised males into the wild. Females that mate with these males produce no offspring. Repeated releases can reduce populations dramatically. SIT has been used in North America to eliminate screwworm flies, an agricultural pest, and to suppress several species of crop-munching fruit flies.

蒙特尔博士和他的同事利用CRISPR技术来增强一种现有的控制方法——昆虫不育技术(SIT)。这项技术需要将很多绝育的雄性放生到野外，与这些雄性交配的雌性不会产下后代，反复进行放生则会大大减少其种群数量。SIT已在北美被用于消灭螺旋蝇(一种农业害虫)并抑制几种吃庄稼的果蝇。

It has been tried on mosquitoes, too, but with less success. One reason seems to be side-effects of the procedure. To sterilise them, males are zapped with radiation or exposed to toxic⁸ chemicals. This works, but it damages them in other ways, too. The result can be sickly individuals that struggle to compete in the mating game with their wild counterparts.

这项技术也曾在蚊子身上做过试验，但效果不太好。其中一个原因似乎是过程的副作用。为了使它们绝育，雄性会被辐射或者暴露在有毒化学物质当中。效果是有的，但也会在其它方面有所损害。结果可能就是，病恹恹的个体难以与野生的同类在交配竞争中胜出。

Dr Montell and his colleagues hoped that CRISPR might offer an alternative. Their first step was to look for genes⁹ which, when disabled, would render male mosquitoes infertile¹⁰. They began their hunt in fruit flies, a stalwart of genetic research. They focused on a gene¹ that, when removed, made male fruit flies sterile—and which was present in a similar form in their target mosquito species, Aedes aegypti, which is the vector of, among other illnesses, yellow fever, dengue and Zika virus. Disabling the equivalent gene in male Aedeslikewise left them infertile.

蒙特尔博士和他的同事希望CRISPR能够提供另一种选择。他们的第一步是寻找那些失去功能后会导致雄性蚊子不育的基因。他们开始在果蝇身上寻找基因研究的中坚力量。他们重点研究了一种基因，该基因在去除后会使雄性果蝇不育，而这种基因在他们的目标蚊子种类埃及伊蚊(黄热病、登革热和寨卡病毒等疾病的传播媒介)中以类似的形式存在。

1 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

2 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。

3 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

4 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

5 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

6 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• 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

7 sterile   

adj.不毛的，不孕的，无菌的，枯燥的，贫瘠的

参考例句：

• This top fits over the bottle and keeps the teat sterile.这个盖子严实地盖在奶瓶上，保持奶嘴无菌。
• The farmers turned the sterile land into high fields.农民们把不毛之地变成了高产田。

8 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

9 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

10 infertile   

adj.不孕的；不肥沃的，贫瘠的

参考例句：

• Plants can't grow well in the infertile land.在贫瘠的土地上庄稼长不好。
• Nobody is willing to till this infertile land.这块薄田没有人愿意耕种。