纽约时报 令人爱恨交加的转基因作物(4)

 

Yet the way nature alters things is also profoundly haphazard¹. Sometimes a plant will acquire one trait at the expense of another. Sometimes it actually becomes worse. The same is true for agricultural crossbreeding. Not only is there no way to control which genes² are kept and which are lost; the process also tends to introduce unwanted changes. The technical term for this is "linkage³ drag": all the unintended, and unknown, genes that get pulled along during cross-pollination, like fish in a net. Commercial berry growers spent decades trying to create a domesticated⁴ version of the black raspberry through crossbreeding but never succeeded: the thornless berries either tasted worse or produced almost no fruit, or they developed other problems. It's also why meeting the needs of modern agriculture — growing produce that can be shipped long distances and hold up in the store and at home for more than a few days — can result in tomatoes that taste like cardboard or strawberries that aren't as sweet as they used to be.

然而，大自然改变事物的方式也是极其随意的。有时一种植物会以牺牲另一种植物为代价获得一种特性。有时情况会变得更糟。农业杂交也是如此。不仅没有办法控制哪些基因被保留和丢失；这一过程也往往还会带来意外的变化。这一现象的专业术语是“连锁累赘”：在交叉授粉过程中，所有意想不到的、未知的基因会被拖着走，就像网中的鱼一样。商业浆果种植者花了几十年的时间试图通过杂交培育出一种家养黑覆盆子，但从未成功：无刺浆果要么味道更差，要么几乎不结果实，要么会产生其他问题。因此，满足现代农业的需求——种植可以长距离运输并在商店和家里存放几天以上的农产品——会导致番茄尝起来像硬纸板，或草莓不再像过去那样甜。

In recent years genetic⁵-engineering tools like CRISPR have offered a way around this imprecision, making it possible to identify which genes control which traits — things like color, hardiness⁶, sweetness — and to change only those.

近年来，CRISPR等基因工程工具提供了一种绕过这种不精确性的方法，使识别哪些基因控制哪些特性——比如颜色、耐寒性、甜度——并只改变这些特性成为可能。

Last year, the U.S.D.A. ruled that plants that had undergone simple cisgenic edits — changes to the plant's own DNA⁷, of the kind that could theoretically be created by years of traditional crossbreeding — would not be subject to the same regulation as other G.M.O.s.

去年，美国农业部规定，经过简单顺基因编辑的植物——即改变植物自身DNA，理论上可以通过多年的传统杂交产生——将不再受到与其他转基因生物相同的监管。

The policy is partly a holdover from the early days of genetic engineering, when less was known about the process and its effects. But it has persisted, in part because of powerful anti-G.M.O. campaigning.

这项政策在一定程度上是基因工程早期的遗留问题，当时人们对这一过程及其影响知之甚少。但它一直存在，部分原因是强大的反转基因运动。

 

1 haphazard   

adj.无计划的，随意的，杂乱无章的

参考例句：

• The town grew in a haphazard way.这城镇无计划地随意发展。
• He regrerted his haphazard remarks.他悔不该随口说出那些评论话。

2 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

3 linkage   

n.连接；环节

参考例句：

• In their monographic treatment of linkage,they have emphasized this especially.他们在论连锁的专题文章中特别强调了这点。
• Occasionally,problems with block inheritance or linkage are encountered.有时会遇到区段遗传或连锁问题。

4 domesticated   

adj.喜欢家庭生活的；（指动物）被驯养了的v.驯化( domesticate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He is thoroughly domesticated and cooks a delicious chicken casserole. 他精于家务，烹制的砂锅炖小鸡非常可口。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The donkey is a domesticated form of the African wild ass. 驴是非洲野驴的一种已驯化的品种。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 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。

6 hardiness   

n.耐劳性，强壮；勇气，胆子

参考例句：

• The technician was sent to measure the hardiness of the material. 这位技术员被派去测量材料的硬度。
• It'seems to me that hardiness is the chief essential for success. 看来坚韧是成功的基本要素。

7 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。