2023年经济学人 基因技术制作猛犸象汉堡(1)

 

    A Belgian Company Wants to Create Woolly-mammoth¹ Burgers一家比利时公司想要制造一种猛犸象汉堡

    Just a strand² of Elvis’s hair would do.

    只要一缕猫王的头发就可以了。

    Pluck out his DNA³ and it could be copied millions of times using a technique called the polymerase chain reaction (pcr).

    取出他的遗传物质，利用聚合酶链反应技术可以复制数百万次。

    That was the business plan pitched in the 1990s by Kary Mullis, an American biologist.

    这是美国生物学家卡利·穆利斯在上世纪90年代提出的商业计划。

    Mullis had helped develop pcr in the 1980s; in 1993 he shared a Nobel prize.

    穆利斯在20世纪80年代帮助开发了聚合酶链反应技术; 1993年，他和伙伴共同获得了诺贝尔奖。

    “StarGene”, as his company was known, hoped to make money by selling jewellery stuffed with celebrity⁵ DNA.

    他的公司名为“星基因”，希望通过出售填充了明星遗传物质的珠宝来赚钱。

    The idea never quite worked out.

    这个想法从未真正实现过。

    But that has not stopped a slew⁶ of newer firms also hoping to mine gold from dead individuals—or even entire species.

    但这无法阻止一大批其他的新公司，他们也希望从死去的个体甚至整个物种中淘金。

    Paleo, for instance, is a Belgian startup that creates synthetic⁷ proteins for the artificial-meat business.

    例如，“原始”是一家比利时初创公司，为人造肉行业生产合成蛋白质。

    Driven in part by a “childhood fascination⁸ with prehistory”, Hermes Sanctorum, the company’s ceo, is keen to expand the business into making woolly-mammoth burgers.

    受“童年时期对史前时代的迷恋”的驱使，该公司的首席执行官赫尔墨斯·桑克托鲁姆热衷于将业务扩展到制作猛犸象汉堡。

    Working with the Centre for Palaeogenetics in Sweden, the firm has obtained fragments of DNA from mammoth teeth found in the Siberian permafrost that are up to 1.2m years old.

    该公司与瑞典古遗传学中心合作，从西伯利亚永久冻土中发现的120万年前的猛犸象牙齿中获得了遗传物质片段。

    These fragments were combined with DNA from Asian and African elephants, the mammoth’s nearest living relatives, to reconstruct what the firm hopes is the mammoth version of the gene⁴ that encodes myoglobin, a protein that helps give meat its rich taste and vibrant⁹ red colour.

    这些片段与亚洲象和非洲象(猛犸象现存的近亲)的遗传物质相结合，重建了该公司期盼的猛犸象基因版本，该基因编码了肌红蛋白，一种有助于赋予肉类丰富口感和鲜红颜色的蛋白质。

    That gene was inserted into the DNA of yeast¹⁰, which duly began turning out mammoth myoglobin.

    这个基因被插入到酵母的遗传物质中，于是酵母适时地开始产生猛犸肌红蛋白。

1 mammoth   

n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的

参考例句：

• You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.资金到位的情况下方可进行重大变革。
• Building the new railroad will be a mammoth job.修建那条新铁路将是一项巨大工程。

2 strand   

vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地）

参考例句：

• She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears.她把一缕散发夹到了耳后。
• The climbers had been stranded by a storm.登山者被暴风雨困住了。

3 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。

4 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。

5 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

6 slew   

v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多

参考例句：

• He slewed the car against the side of the building.他的车滑到了大楼的一侧，抵住了。
• They dealt with a slew of other issues.他们处理了大量的其他问题。

7 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

8 fascination   

n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋

参考例句：

• He had a deep fascination with all forms of transport.他对所有的运输工具都很着迷。
• His letters have been a source of fascination to a wide audience.广大观众一直迷恋于他的来信。

9 vibrant   

adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的

参考例句：

• He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
• She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。

10 yeast   

n.酵母；酵母片；泡沫；v.发酵；起泡沫

参考例句：

• Yeast can be used in making beer and bread.酵母可用于酿啤酒和发面包。
• The yeast began to work.酵母开始发酵。