万物简史 第601期:生命的物质(27)

In the early 1990s, scientists made an even more profound discovery when they found they could knock out supposedly vital genes¹ from embryonic² mice, and the mice were not only often born healthy, but sometimes were actually fitter than their brothers and sisters who had not been tampered³ with. When certain important genes were destroyed, it turned out, others were stepping in to fill the breach⁴. This was excellent news for us as organisms, but not so good for our understanding of how cells work since it introduced an extra layer of complexity⁵ to something that we had barely begun to understand anyway.

20世纪90年代初，科学家甚至作了更为深入的研究。他们发现，通过破坏胚胎阶段的老鼠的某种关键性基因，这些老鼠出生后不仅很健康，甚至有时比基因未受破坏的兄弟姐妹更健康。结果证明当某种重要的基因被破坏以后，其他的基因会进来填补空缺。对于作为生物的我们来说，这是一个再好不过的消息，但是对于我们了解细胞是怎样工作的却不太有利，因为它使我们才刚刚开始了解的问题又增加了一层复杂性。

It is largely because of these complicating⁶ factors that cracking the human genome became seen almost at once as only a beginning. The genome, as Eric Lander of MIT has put it, is like a parts list for the human body: it tells us what we are made of, but says nothing about how we work. What's needed now is the operating manual — instructions for how to make it go. We are not close to that point yet.

很大程度上正是这种极其复杂的因素，使得破译人类基因组的工作几乎马上被看成是仅仅处在起步阶段。基因组，正如麻省理工学院埃里克·兰德所指出的那样，就像是人体部位的排列表：它告诉我们我们是由什么构成的，但是却没有说它们是怎样工作的。现在所需要的是操作手册——怎样使它运转起来的指令。这对于我们来说，还是遥不可及的一件事。

So now the quest is to crack the human proteome — a concept so novel that the term proteome didn't even exist a decade ago. The proteome is the library of information that creates proteins. "Unfortunately," observed Scientific American in the spring of 2002, "the proteome is much more complicated than the genome."

因此，当务之急的是破解人类蛋白组——一个非常新的概念，仅仅在10年前，甚至连蛋白组这个词也不存在。蛋白组是储藏制造蛋白质信息的资料馆。“不幸的是，”《科学美国人》2002年春季刊认为，“蛋白组比基因组复杂得多。”

That's putting it mildly.

那个话说得比较婉转。

1 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

2 embryonic   

adj.胚胎的

参考例句：

• It is still in an embryonic stage.它还处于萌芽阶段。
• The plan,as yet,only exists in embryonic form.这个计划迄今为止还只是在酝酿之中。

3 tampered   

v.窜改( tamper的过去式 )；篡改；（用不正当手段）影响；瞎摆弄

参考例句：

• The records of the meeting had been tampered with. 会议记录已被人擅自改动。 来自辞典例句
• The old man's will has been tampered with. 老人的遗嘱已被窜改。 来自辞典例句

4 breach   

n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破

参考例句：

• We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
• He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。

5 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

6 complicating   

使复杂化( complicate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• High spiking fever with chills is suggestive of a complicating pylephlebitis. 伴有寒战的高热，暗示合并门静脉炎。
• In America these actions become executive puberty rites, complicating relationships that are already complicated enough. 在美国，这些行动成了行政青春期的惯例，使本来已经够复杂的关系变得更复杂了。