美国国家公共电台 NPR Scientists Closer To Creating A Fully Synthetic Yeast Genome

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Scientists have taken a big step towards making synthetic¹ life. In other words, they figured out how to create a living thing with DNA² that was written in a lab. NPR health correspondent Rob Stein has the details.

ROB STEIN, BYLINE³: The scientists started with a critter that's pretty simple, yeast⁴ - you know, the stuff we use every day to bake bread, brew⁵ beer and ferment⁶ wine.

JEF BOEKE: We are essentially⁷ swapping⁸ out the code, if you will, in a living yeast cell with sort of a 21st-century version of the operating system.

STEIN: That's Jef Boeke of New York University. He's leading an international project to create yeast that are programmed with DNA that scientists manufacture in their labs. So far, they've created about one-third of yeast's chromosomes⁹ and shown they can work in living yeast cells even when they've rewritten big chunks¹⁰ of the code.

BOEKE: We can kind of torture the genome of the yeast in some pretty extreme ways, and the yeast sort of shrugs¹¹ its shoulders and doesn't seem to care that much about it.

STEIN: So why are they doing all this? Well, one goal is to learn new things about basic biology.

BOEKE: Yeast kind of serves as a model for how human cells and other cells - how they tick. They are a great model for understanding the basic wiring of higher cells.

STEIN: The scientists also hope to create new forms of synthetic yeast powered by synthetic DNA to use like little factories to manufacture a lot more than just beer, wine and bread.

BOEKE: We're also developing some really practical tools for improving the yeast so that it can do a much better job at making useful products for us.

STEIN: Like new drugs to cure diseases. The scientists also want to create synthetic forms of other much more complex organisms.

BOEKE: This is absolutely setting the stage for being able to do these kinds of manipulations on a much larger scale in much larger genomes, such as those of plants and animals and even of the human genome.

STEIN: In fact, he's already working on another project that's trying to write a synthetic human genome with George Church, a Harvard geneticist.

GEORGE CHURCH: This is a whole new era where we're moving beyond little edits on single genes¹² to being able to write whatever we want throughout the genome. The goal is to be able to change it as radically¹³ as our understanding permits.

STEIN: Now, some worry synthetic microorganisms, plants and animals could mess up the environment if they were ever released on purpose or accidentally and that terrorists could use this kind of technology to brew up new biological weapons. And Boeke knows that the prospect¹⁴ of creating a synthetic human genome sets off all kinds of alarm bells.

BOEKE: The biggest concern of course is people are worried that our goal is to make a synthetic human, a human powered by a synthetic genome. And this is why we are very adamant¹⁵ that our applications are in engineering of cells that could be used for therapies for humans. Don't make an organism from it.

STEIN: But some think society needs a lot more debate before anyone tries to manufacture a synthetic human genome in their lab. Laurie Zoloth is a bioethicist at Northwestern.

LAURIE ZOLOTH: Having that kind of knowledge and that kind of power over the human genome in a world as riven by injustice¹⁶ as the world in which we currently live would not be a good way to go, would not be a justifiable¹⁷ direction.

STEIN: Now Boeke says his group is moving very carefully with a lot of ethical¹⁹ oversight²⁰, and they hope to finish creating their fully¹⁸ synthetic yeast genome by the end of the year. Rob Stein, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPOON SONG, "MY MATHEMATICAL MIND")

1 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。

2 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。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 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。

5 brew   

v.酿造，调制

参考例句：

• Let's brew up some more tea.咱们沏些茶吧。
• The policeman dispelled the crowd lest they should brew trouble.警察驱散人群，因恐他们酿祸。

6 ferment   

vt.使发酵；n./vt.（使）激动，（使）动乱

参考例句：

• Fruit juices ferment if they are kept a long time.果汁若是放置很久，就会发酵。
• The sixties were a time of theological ferment.六十年代是神学上骚动的时代。

7 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

8 swapping   

交换，交换技术

参考例句：

• The slow swapping and buying of horses went on. 马匹的买卖和交换就是这样慢慢地进行着。
• He was quite keen on swapping books with friends. 他非常热衷于和朋友们交换书籍。

9 chromosomes   

n.染色体( chromosome的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Chromosomes also determine the sex of animals. 染色体也决定动物的性别。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Each of four chromosomes divide longitudinally. 四种染色体的每一种都沿着纵向分裂。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 chunks   

厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分

参考例句：

• a tin of pineapple chunks 一罐菠萝块
• Those chunks of meat are rather large—could you chop them up a bIt'smaller? 这些肉块相当大，还能再切小一点吗？

11 shrugs   

n.耸肩（以表示冷淡，怀疑等）( shrug的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany shrugs off this criticism. 匈牙利总理久尔恰尼对这个批评不以为然。 来自互联网
• She shrugs expressively and takes a sip of her latte. 她表达地耸肩而且拿她的拿铁的啜饮。 来自互联网

12 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

13 radically   

ad.根本地，本质地

参考例句：

• I think we may have to rethink our policies fairly radically. 我认为我们可能要对我们的政策进行根本的反思。
• The health service must be radically reformed. 公共医疗卫生服务必须进行彻底改革。

14 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

15 adamant   

adj.坚硬的，固执的

参考例句：

• We are adamant on the building of a well-off society.在建设小康社会这一点上，我们是坚定不移的。
• Veronica was quite adamant that they should stay on.维罗妮卡坚信他们必须继续留下去。

16 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

17 justifiable   

adj.有理由的，无可非议的

参考例句：

• What he has done is hardly justifiable.他的所作所为说不过去。
• Justifiable defense is the act being exempted from crimes.正当防卫不属于犯罪行为。

18 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

19 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

20 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。