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BonnieBassler_2009-_细菌是怎样交流的_
Bacteria are the oldest living organisms on the earth. 细菌是地球上最古老的生物.
Bacteria:n.[微]细菌; organisms:n.[生物]生物体(organism的复数);[生物]有机体;
They've been here for billions of years, and what they are are single-celled microscopic organisms. 它们已经存在数十亿年了 它们是单细胞微生物
microscopic:adj.微观的;用显微镜可见的;
So they are one cell and they have this special property that they only have one piece of DNA. 它们特征是只有一个细胞 还有就是它们只有一份DNA
They have very few genes , and genetic information to encode all of the traits that they carry out. 它们只有少量基因, 和遗传信息来编码它们表达的特性。
genes:n.基因;(gene的复数) genetic:adj.基因的;遗传学的; encode:vt.(将文字材料)译成密码;编码,编制成计算机语言; traits:n.特性,特质,性格(trait的复数);
And the way bacteria make a living is that they consume nutrients from the environment, they grow to twice their size, they cut themselves down in the middle, and one cell becomes two, and so on and so on. 细菌生存的方法 是不断从环境中吸取养分? 在成长到两倍的体积后,它们从中一分为二 分裂为两个细胞,如此循环
make a living:谋生,维持生活; consume:v.消耗;吃;毁灭;烧毁; nutrients:营养盐;[食品]营养素;
They just grow and divide, and grow and divide -- so a kind of boring life, except that what I would argue is that you have an amazing interaction with these critters . 它们不停得生长、分裂,然后再生长、再分裂—过着有点乏味的生活。 但是,今天我想告诉你 你与这些细菌有着惊人的互动关系
boring:adj.无聊的;令人厌烦的;n.钻孔;v.使厌烦;钻孔;(bore的现在分词) interaction:n.[计]交互,相互作用;相互交流;干扰; critters:n.生物;小动物(critter的复数形式);
I know you guys think of yourself as humans, and this is sort of how I think of you. 我知道你认为你自己是人类,而这可能也是我如何看你们的
This man is supposed to represent a generic human being, and all of the circles in that man are all of the cells that make up your body. 在这里的是 一个一般人类的代表 在他身上所有的圆圈代表着各个组成人体的细胞
supposed:adj.误信的;所谓的;v.认为;假设;设想;(suppose的过去分词和过去式) represent:v.代表;表现;描绘;回忆;再赠送; generic:adj.类的;一般的;属的;非商标的;
There is about a trillion human cells that make each one of us who we are and able to do all the things that we do, but you have 10 trillion bacterial cells in you or on you at any moment in your life. 每个人体大约是由一兆个人体细胞所组成 它们让我们能完成各种各样我们想做的事情 但是,你一生中的每时每刻, 有大约十兆个细菌细胞生活在你的体内体表。
trillion:n.[数]万亿;adj.万亿的;num.[数]万亿; bacterial:adj.[微]细菌的;
So, 10 times more bacterial cells than human cells on a human being. 所以,有十倍于人体细胞的细菌细胞 生活在一个人身上
And of course it's the DNA that counts, so here's all the A, T, Gs and Cs that make up your genetic code , and give you all your charming characteristics . 同理, 我们要算一下DNA 这是所有的 A, T, G 和 C (腺嘌呤, 胸腺嘧啶, 鸟嘌呤, 胞嘧啶) 组成你的基因密码, 赋予你所有的魅力特征.
genetic code:n.遗传密码; charming:adj.令人着迷的;吸引人的;v.吸引;迷住;控制,保护;(charm的现在分词) characteristics:n.特征;特点;品质;(characteristic的复数)
You have about 30,000 genes. 你有3万左右的遗传基因,
Well it turns out you have 100 times more bacterial genes playing a role in you or on you all of your life. 而围绕你的细菌的遗传基因数量是你自己的100倍 它们在你的身体内部和表面上中始终扮演着重要的角色。
At the best , you're 10 percent human, but more likely about one percent human, depending on which of these metrics you like. 最乐观的看法是: 你只是 10分之1人 , 事实上 100分之一人 更准确, 取决于你更喜欢用哪个尺度来衡量.
At the best:adv.充其量,至多; metrics:n.度量;作诗法;韵律学;
I know you think of yourself as human beings, but I think of you as 90 or 99 percent bacterial. 我知道你自认为是一个 人类 , 但在我眼里你是90%~99%的细菌.
(Laughter) (笑)
These bacteria are not passive riders , these are incredibly important, they keep us alive. 这些细菌不是顺从的乘客, 他们难以置信得重要, 他们让我们活着.
passive:adj.被动的,消极的;被动语态的;n.被动语态; riders:骑手;附文;扶手(rider的复数); incredibly:adv.难以置信地;非常地;
They cover us in an invisible body armor that keeps environmental insults out so that we stay healthy. 它们是我们身上的无形盔甲 阻断来之环境的伤害 保持我们的健康.
invisible:adj.看不见的;n.看不见的人或物; armor:n.[军]装甲;盔甲;v.为…装甲; insults:v.侮辱;辱骂(insult的第三人称单数);n.无礼;损害(insult的复数);
They digest our food, they make our vitamins , they actually educate your immune system to keep bad microbes out. 它们消化食物, 制造维他命, 它们还指导你的免疫系统 将有害微生物阻挡在体外。
digest:n.摘要;文摘;概要;汇编;v.消化;领会;领悟;理解; vitamins:n.[生化]维生素;[生化]维他命; immune system:n.免疫系统; microbes:n.细菌,[微]微生物;微生物类(microbe的复数形式);
So they do all these amazing things that help us and are vital for keeping us alive, and they never get any press for that. 它们尽心尽职干活 帮助我们,维护我们的生命。 却从没有因此得到过报道.
vital:adj.至关重要的;生死攸关的;有活力的;
But they get a lot of press because they do a lot of terrible things as well. 反而却因为它们同时做的许多 坏事而时常见报。
So, there's all kinds of bacteria on the Earth that have no business being in you or on you at any time, and if they are, they make you incredibly sick. 地球上有无数种细菌 它们有些在任何时候都绝对不应该出现在你的体内体表, 然而假如你不幸遇到了, 那你一定会病得很厉害。
have no business:无权,没有理由;无关;
And so, the question for my lab is whether you want to think about all the good things that bacteria do, or all the bad things that bacteria do. 所以, 我们实验室研究的问题是, 正是你想知道的 细菌做的所有好事或者细菌做的所有坏事。
The question we had is how could they do anything at all? 我们曾经提出一个疑问: 它们究竟是怎么做到的?
I mean they're incredibly small, you have to have a microscope to see one. 我指的是, 它们是那么细微, 用显微镜才能看到一个。
microscope:n.显微镜;
They live this sort of boring life where they grow and divide, and they've always been considered to be these asocial reclusive organisms. 它们的生活好像只是单调乏味的成长与分裂, 而且长久以来被认为是不善社交的隐居生命体。
asocial:adj.自私的;不合群的;缺乏社交性的; reclusive:adj.隐居的;隐遁的;
And so it seemed to us that they are just too small to have an impact on the environment if they simply act as individuals . 所以在我们看来, 它们实在是太渺小, 如果单枪匹马 根本到无法对环境产生任何影响。
impact:n.影响;效果;碰撞;冲击力;v.挤入,压紧;撞击;对…产生影响; individuals:n.[经]个人;[生物]个体(individual的复数);
And so we wanted to think if there couldn't be a different way that bacteria live. 所以我们正在探讨 细菌是不是有着特殊的生存方式。
The clue to this came from another marine bacterium , and it's a bacterium called Vibrio fischeri. 解答这个问题的线索 来自一种叫做费氏弧菌的海洋细菌。
clue:n.提示;迹象;(纵横填字谜、游戏或问题的)提示词语;v.提示;为…提供线索; marine:adj.海的;海产的;海生的;海船的;n.(尤指美国或英国皇家)海军陆战队士兵; bacterium:n.[微]细菌;杆菌属;
What you're looking at on this slide is just a person from my lab holding a flask of a liquid culture of a bacterium, a harmless beautiful bacterium that comes from the ocean, named Vibrio fischeri. 你们在这张幻灯看到的,是我实验室的一个工作人员 握着一瓶装满这种细菌的培养液, 这是一种来自海洋的,美丽而且无害的细菌: 费氏弧菌 .
flask:n.[分化]烧瓶;长颈瓶,细颈瓶;酒瓶,携带瓶;
This bacterium has the special property that it makes light, so it makes bioluminescence , like fireflies make light. 这种细菌的特性是会发光, 产生生物荧光, 像萤火虫一样。
bioluminescence:n.生物体之发光; fireflies:n.萤火虫;(firefly的名词复数);
We're not doing anything to the cells here. 我们没有对这些细胞做任何处理。
We just took the picture by turning the lights off in the room, and this is what we see. 我们只是把房间灯关了,然后照了这张照片, 这是我们所见到的情形。
What was actually interesting to us was not that the bacteria made light, but when the bacteria made light. 事实上, 我们感兴趣的部分 并不是细菌会不会发光, 而是细菌何时发光。
What we noticed is when the bacteria were alone, so when they were in dilute suspension , they made no light. 我们发现, 当细菌独立存在, 经稀释后进行悬浮培养时, 它们不发光。
dilute:adj.稀释的;淡的;vt.稀释;冲淡;削弱;vi.变稀薄;变淡; suspension:n.悬浮;暂停;停职;
But when they grew to a certain cell number all the bacteria turned on light simultaneously . 但一旦它们增长到一个特定数量之后 所有的细菌同时发光。
simultaneously:adv.同时地;
The question that we had is how can bacteria, these primitive organisms, tell the difference from times when they're alone, and times when they're in a community , and then all do something together. 于是我们想, 这些原始生物, 到底如何得知自己是处于孤立的状态, 还是处在一个群体里, 并且同时一起做同一件事情。
primitive:adj.原始的,远古的;简单的,粗糙的;n.原始人; community:n.社区;[生态]群落;共同体;团体;
What we've figured out is that the way that they do that is that they talk to each other, and they talk with a chemical language. 然后我们发现了这是因为细菌能够彼此交谈, 它们用的是化学语言。
chemical:n.化学制品,化学药品;adj.化学的;
This is now supposed to be my bacterial cell. 假设这是我的细菌。
When it's alone it doesn't make any light. 当它独处时, 丝毫不会发光。
But, what it does do is to make and secrete small molecules that you can think of like hormones , and these are the red triangles , and when the bacteria is alone the molecules just float away and so no light. 但是它们会制造分泌小化学分子 你可以把他想象成荷尔蒙, 这里的红色三角形代表这些小分子, 当细菌独处时, 分泌的小分子游离开来,所以不发光。
secrete:v.分泌;隐藏,藏匿(小物件); molecules:n.[化学]分子,微粒;[化学]摩尔(molecule的复数); hormones:n.[生理]激素;荷尔蒙;性激素;荷尔蒙制剂(hormone的复数); triangles:n.[数]三角形,三角型态(triangle的复数形式);
But when the bacteria grow and double and they're all participating in making these molecules, the molecule -- the extracellular amount of that molecule increases in proportion to cell number. 随着这些细菌成倍增长, 且全部一起制造这些分子, 这些细胞外分子的含量 随着细胞数量的增加而增加,
participating:v.参加;参与(participate的现在分词) extracellular:adj.(位于或发生于)[生物]细胞外的(副词extracellularly); in proportion to:与…成比例,与…相称;
And when the molecule hits a certain amount that tells the bacteria how many neighbors there are, they recognize that molecule and all of the bacteria turn on light in synchrony . 当这些个分子累积到一定的量之后, 它们会告诉了细菌,它们周围有多少邻居, 细菌接受到这些信息后, 所有的细菌,同时开始发光。
recognize:v.认识;认出;辨别出;承认;意识到; synchrony:n.同步;
That's how bioluminescence works -- they're talking with these chemical words. 生物光就是这样运作的 -- 它们籍由上述的化学语言交流。
The reason that Vibrio fischeri is doing that comes from the biology . 费氏弧菌的发光现象来自生物学上的原因。
biology:n.(一个地区全部的)生物;生物学;
Again, another plug for the animals in the ocean, 接下来,我们再来看一个海洋生物:
plug:n.插头;塞子;栓;v.塞住;用插头将与电源接通;
Vibrio fischeri lives in this squid . 费式弧菌寄生在这种乌贼的体内。
squid:n.鱿鱼;乌贼;枪乌贼;
What you are looking at is the Hawaiian Bobtail Squid, and it's been turned on its back, and what I hope you can see are these two glowing lobes and these house the Vibrio fischeri cells, they live in there, at high cell number that molecule is there, and they're making light. 你们现在看到的是夏威夷截尾乌贼, 这是它的腹侧, 我希望你们看得到,那两个发着光的叶状突起, 这里是费式弧菌的寄生之处, 他们居住在这里面。 他们分泌的小分子也在这里面,所以它们能够发光。
Hawaiian:adj.夏威夷的;夏威夷语的;n.夏威夷人;夏威夷语; glowing:adj.灼热的;热情洋溢的;鲜艳的;v.发光;容光焕发;发热;(glow的现在分词) lobes:n.耳垂;脑叶(lobe的复数形式);
The reason the squid is willing to put up with these shenanigans is because it wants that light. 这种乌贼之所以愿意接受它们在里面胡作非为 是因为它需要这些亮光。
put up with:v.忍受;容忍; shenanigans:n.恶作剧;诈骗;诡计;(shenanigan的复数)
The way that this symbiosis works is that this little squid lives just off the coast of Hawaii, just in sort of shallow knee deep water. 这种共存行为的建立基础 是因为这种小乌贼生活在夏威夷的海岸, 大概只有膝盖一般深的水里。
symbiosis:n.[生态]共生;合作关系;共栖;
The squid is nocturnal , so during the day it buries itself in the sand and sleeps, but then at night it has to come out to hunt. 这种乌贼是夜行性的, 因此在白天它们藏在沙子里睡觉, 但是到了晚上,它们必须出来猎食。
nocturnal:adj.夜的;夜曲的;夜间发生的;
On bright nights when there is lots of starlight or moonlight that light can penetrate the depth of the water the squid lives in, since it's just in those couple feet of water. 在有着许多星光与月光的明亮夜晚, 这些光线可以照透乌贼所生活的地方 因为这里的海水只有数尺深而已
starlight:n.星光;adj.有星光的;星光照耀的; penetrate:v.渗透;进入;穿过;看透;
What the squid has developed is a shutter that can open and close over this specialized light organ housing the bacteria. 这种乌贼演化出了一种活叶瓣, 可以打开或关闭细菌所寄生的发光器官。
shutter:n.快门;百叶窗;关闭物;遮板;vt.为…装百叶窗;以百叶窗遮闭; specialized:adj.专业的; v.专门研究(或从事); (specialize的过去式和过去分词)
Then it has detectors on its back so it can sense how much starlight or moonlight is hitting its back. 这种乌贼背上有一些感光装置, 可以测量有多少月光或星光照在它背上,
detectors:n.探测器;侦测设备(detector的复数);
And it opens and closes the shutter so the amount of light coming out of the bottom -- which is made by the bacterium -- exactly matches how much light hits the squid's back, so the squid doesn't make a shadow. 然后调节它的活叶瓣。 使从它腹部所放出的光 细菌产生的光 完全符合照射在乌贼背上的光强度 因此这乌贼就不会产生任何影子。
It actually uses the light from the bacteria to counter-illuminate itself in an anti-predation device so predators can't see its shadow, calculate its trajectory , and eat it. 它们使用来自细菌的光, 不断调节光线,就像穿上隐身衣, 使猎食者无法看见它的阴影, 计算它的动向,然后吃了它。
device:n.装置;策略;图案; predators:n.捕食性动物;实行弱肉强食的人(或机构);掠夺者;(predator的复数) trajectory:n.[物]轨道,轨线;[航][军]弹道;
This is like the stealth bomber of the ocean. 就像是大海中的隐形轰炸机一般。
stealth:n.秘密;秘密行动;鬼祟; bomber:n.轰炸机;投弹手;
(Laughter) （笑声）
But then if you think about it, the squid has this terrible problem because it's got this dying, thick culture of bacteria and it can't sustain that. 但是如果你再深入地想一下,这乌贼会有一个可怕的问题 因为在它的体内,这些黏稠的细菌会不断的增长,死亡, 乌贼无法无限地维持这种状态。
sustain:v.支持;支撑;遭受;证实;
And so what happens is every morning when the sun comes up the squid goes back to sleep, it buries itself in the sand, and it's got a pump that's attached to its circadian rhythm , and when the sun comes up it pumps out like 95 percent of the bacteria. 因此每天早上太阳升起后, 它将自己埋藏在沙子里睡觉, 它有一个与日夜周期同步的活泵 当太阳升起时,它将大约95%的细菌排出体外。
attached:adj.依恋;v.重视;把…固定;(attach的过去分词和过去式) circadian:adj.生理节奏的(指与地球二十四小时运转联系的新陈代谢,内分泌作用及睡眠等节奏有关的); rhythm:n.节奏;韵律; pumps:n.[机]泵; v.用泵送;
Now the bacteria are dilute, that little hormone molecule is gone, so they're not making light -- but of course the squid doesn't care. It's asleep in the sand. 当细菌被稀释了,这些小荷尔蒙分子也随之消失, 因此它们就不发光了, 但这时乌贼完全不在乎,因为它正在沙子里睡觉呢。
And as the day goes by the bacteria double, they release the molecule, and then light comes on at night, exactly when the squid wants it. 当白天过去,这些细菌持续分裂增长, 它们释放出足够的这些小分子,然后又开始在晚上发光, 这时正好又是乌贼需要光线的时候。
release:v.释放;发射;让与;允许发表;n.释放;发布;让与;
First we figured out how this bacterium does this, but then we brought the tools of molecular biology to this to figure out really what's the mechanism . 我们首先了解了这些细菌为什么会有这种现象, 然后我们使用分子生物学的方法 来研究这种现象的真正的机理。
molecular:adj.[化学]分子的;由分子组成的; mechanism:n.机制;原理,途径;进程;机械装置;技巧;
And what we found -- so this is supposed to be, again, my bacterial cell -- is that Vibrio fischeri has a protein -- that's the red box -- it's an enzyme that makes that little hormone molecule -- the red triangle. 我们发现了:比如这是我的费氏弧菌 它有一种蛋白质－ 就是这个红色的方块—它是一种催化剂, 是它制造的这种小荷尔蒙分子,就是这红色三角形。
protein:n.蛋白质; enzyme:n.[生化]酶;
And then as the cells grow, they're all releasing that molecule into the environment, so there's lots of molecule there. 当细胞生长时,他们全都释放这个种分子到环境中, 因此周围环境中有大量的这种分子。
releasing:n.释放;松释动作;脱扣释放;v.释放;排放;(release的现在分词);
And the bacteria also have a receptor on their cell surface that fits like a lock and key with that molecule. 这些细菌的细胞表面,存在一种受体, 它与小分子的构造就如同锁与钥匙一般的吻合。
receptor:n.[生化]受体;接受器;感觉器官;
These are just like the receptors on the surfaces of your cells. 它们就如同你我身体细胞表面上的受体一般。
receptors:n.[生化]受体;接受器;神经末梢(receptor的复数);
When the molecule increases to a certain amount -- which says something about the number of cells -- it locks down into that receptor and information comes into the cells that tells the cells to turn on this collective behavior of making light. 当这些分子增加到一定的量时— 这也意味着这些细胞的数量增加到一定的量 荷尔蒙小分子与受器相结合, 讯息开始向细胞内部传递, 这个讯息会告诉这些细胞 开始集体发光的行为。
collective:adj.集体的;共同的;集合的;集体主义的;n.集团;集合体;集合名词;
Why this is interesting is because in the past decade we have found that this is not just some anomaly of this ridiculous , glow-in-the-dark bacterium that lives in the ocean -- all bacteria have systems like this. 这个发现之所以有趣,是因为在过去十年间 我们发现这种现象, 不只局限在这种住在大海中,古怪的、会在黑暗中发光的细菌, 而是所有的细菌都有类似的系统。
anomaly:n.异常;不规则;反常事物; ridiculous:adj.可笑的;荒谬的;
So now what we understand is that all bacteria can talk to each other. 由此,我们发现所有细菌都是可以彼此交谈的。
They make chemical words, they recognize those words, and they turn on group behaviors that are only successful when all of the cells participate in unison . 它们制造化学文字,同时也能够辨认这些文字, 然后表现 只有当所有细胞齐心协力才能成功的集体行为。
participate:v.参加;参与; unison:n.和谐;齐唱;同度;[声]同音;
We have a fancy name for this, we call it quorum sensing. 我们为这种行为取了一个新潮的名字,称作:聚量感应。
fancy:n.幻想; adj.想象的; v.想象; quorum:n.法定人数;
They vote with these chemical votes, the vote gets counted, and then everybody responds to the vote. 就象用化学物质投票, 再对票量加以统计,然后 所有细胞都要服从最后的投票结果。
responds:v.(口头或书面)回答,回应;作出反应;响应;(respond的第三人称单数)
What's important for today's talk is that we know that there are hundreds of behaviors that bacteria carry out in these collective fashions. 今天演讲最重要的一点是, 我们已经知道细菌有数百种以上的这种 集体行为。
But the one that's probably the most important to you is virulence . 其中对大家来说,最关心的应该还是细菌的致病性。
virulence:n.毒力;毒性;恶意(等于virulency);
It's not like a couple bacteria get in you and they start secreting some toxins -- you're enormous , that would have no effect on you. You're huge. 并不是说少量细菌进入你体内后 就马上开始分泌毒素。 相对它们来说,你是个庞然大物,少量细菌对你不会有任何的影响。
secreting:vt.藏匿;私下侵吞;分泌; toxins:n.[毒物]毒素,毒质;毒素类(toxin的复数); enormous:adj.庞大的,巨大的;凶暴的,极恶的;
What they do, we now understand, is they get in you, they wait, they start growing, they count themselves with these little molecules, and they recognize when they have the right cell number 我们发现, 它们是先进入你的体内,然后等待,开始不断复制增长, 它们由统计小分子的数目来估计自身的实力, 当确定有足够的细胞数后,
that if all of the bacteria launch their virulence attack together, they are going to be successful at overcoming an enormous host. 所有细菌一起发动致病攻击, 这样它们就能成功攻陷巨大的宿主。
launch:v.发射(导弹,火箭等); n.发射; overcoming:v.克服;解决;战胜;(overcome的现在分词)
Bacteria always control pathogenicity with quorum sensing. 细菌总是以「聚量感应」来控制其致病性
That's how it works. 这就是它们运作的原理。
We also then went to look at what are these molecules -- these were the red triangles on my slides before. 我们同时也研究了这些小分子, 这些就是我刚才幻灯上的小红三角形。
This is the Vibrio fischeri molecule. 这个是费氏弧菌的小分子。
This is the word that it talks with. 也就是它们用以交谈的文字。
So,then we started to look at other bacteria, and these are just a smattering of the molecules that we've discovered. 我们开始研究其他细菌, 这些是部份我们已发现小分子
smattering:n.少量;(尤指对语言)略知,浅知;
What I hope you can see is that the molecules are related. 我希望你们看得出来 这些分子之间是有关联性的。
The left-hand part of the molecule is identical in every single species of bacteria. 每种细菌, 它们的小分子的左半部都是完全相同的。
left-hand:adj.左手的;左侧的; identical:adj.同一的;完全相同的;n.完全相同的事物; species:n.[生物]物种;种类;
But the right-hand part of the molecule is a little bit different in every single species. 只是在右半部则因菌种的不同而有少许的不同。
right-hand:adj.得力的;右手的,用右手的;
What that does is to confer exquisite species specificities to these languages. 这个发现证实 细菌的语言有高度的专一性。
confer:vt.授予;给予;vi.协商; exquisite:adj.精致的;细腻的;优美的,高雅的;异常的;剧烈的;n.服饰过于讲究的男子; specificities:[免疫]特异性;
Each molecule fits into its partner receptor and no other. 每一种分子只能与其相对受器结合,非常专一。
So these are private, secret conversations. 所以这些交谈是私下的、秘密的。
These conversations are for intraspecies communication. 这种交流是只限于同种族内部的沟通。
Each bacteria uses a particular molecule that's its language, that allows it to count its own siblings . 每一种细菌使用其特殊分子代表它的语言, 让它能够计算同类的数量。
siblings:n.兄;弟;姐;妹;(sibling的复数)
Once we got that far we thought we were starting to understand that bacteria have these social behaviors. 一旦我们了解这些, 我们也开始了解细菌有所谓的社交行为。
But what we were really thinking about is that most of the time bacteria don't live by themselves, they live in incredible mixtures , with hundreds or thousands of other species of bacteria. 但我们真正思考的问题是, 在多数情况下,细菌并不是单独生活的,它们居住的地方是鱼龙混杂的, 它们跟其它成百上千种的细菌同居一处。
incredible:adj.难以置信的,惊人的; mixtures:n.[化学]混合物(mixture的复数);配合料;
And that's depicted on this slide. This is your skin. 这张幻灯可以说明这个情形:这是你的皮肤。
depicted:vt.描述;描画;
So this is just a picture -- a micrograph of your skin. 这是一张照片,是你皮肤的显微照片。
micrograph:n.显微照片,显微图;微动描记器;
Anywhere on your body, it looks pretty much like this, and what I hope you can see is that there's all kinds of bacteria there. 在你身体的任何地方,看上去都会和这差不多。 我希望你能看出,这里有各种不同的细菌。
And so we started to think if this really is about communication in bacteria, and it's about counting your neighbors, it's not enough to be able to only talk within your species. 因此我们开始思考,如果这真的是细菌间的交流 计算与之相邻的同种细菌的数量, 只跟同种细菌沟通是不够的,
There has to be a way to take a census of the rest of the bacteria in the population. 它们一定有某种 跟周围其他种细菌和平共处的方法。
census:vt.实施统计调查;n.人口普查,人口调查;
So we went back to molecular biology and started studying different bacteria, and what we've found now is that in fact, bacteria are multilingual . 所以我们回到分子生物学的方法, 开始研究不同的细菌。 我们现在已经发现, 事实上,细菌可以讲多国种语言。
multilingual:adj.使用多种语言的;n.使用多种语言的人;
They all have a species-specific system -- they have a molecule that says "me." 它们都有一个菌种特别识别系统, 用特别分子来辨别同类。
But then, running in parallel to that is a second system that we've discovered, that's generic. 但是,我们发现, 它们同时还有另一种系统,那是一个通用的系统。
parallel:adj.平行的; v.与…相似; n.极其相似的人(或情况、事件等);
So, they have a second enzyme that makes a second signal and it has its own receptor, and this molecule is the trade language of bacteria. 因此,它们有另一种催化剂,能产生第二种信号, 这种信号也有自己的受体, 这种分子是细菌们的公共语言。
It's used by all different bacteria and it's the language of interspecies communication. 它被所有不同的细菌所公共使用, 是一种菌种间沟通的语言。
interspecies:n.种间(杂种);
What happens is that bacteria are able to count how many of me and how many of you. 细菌能够计算 并区分自己周围同种与异种细菌的数量。
They take that information inside, and they decide what tasks to carry out depending on who's in the minority and who's in the majority of any given population. 它们传递这些讯息到细胞内, 然后决定该怎么做, 它们的行动取决于在整个群体中 谁占多数,谁占少数。
minority:n.少数民族;少数派;未成年;adj.少数的;属于少数派的; majority:n.大部分:大多数:多数票:成年人:
Then, again we turn to chemistry, and we figured out what this generic molecule is -- that was the pink ovals on my last slide, this is it. 我们又使用化学方法 搞清了这个通用分子的构造－ 通用分子就是我上一张幻灯的粉红色椭圆形。
ovals:n.椭圆形物;卵形体(oval的复数);
It's a very small five carbon molecule. 它是一个非常小的五碳分子。
carbon:n.[化学]碳;碳棒;复写纸;adj.碳的;碳处理的;
What the important thing is that we learned is that every bacterium has exactly the same enzyme and makes exactly the same molecule. 重要的是,我们发现 每种细菌都有完全一样的催化剂, 可以制造一模一样的分子。
So they're all using this molecule for interspecies communication. 它们都使用这个分子 作为菌种间交流的语言。
This is the bacterial Esperanto . 这是细菌的世界语。
Esperanto:n.世界语;
(Laughter) 笑声
Once we got that far, we started to learn that bacteria can talk to each other with this chemical language. 一旦我们了解这个后, 我们知道细菌可以用这个分子来相互交流。
But what we started to think is that maybe there is something practical that we can do here as well. 但是我们又开始思考, 也许我们可以使用这个发现来做一些实质上的应用。
practical:adj.实际的;真实的;客观存在的;n.实习课;实践课;
I've told you that bacteria do have all these social behaviors, they communicate with these molecules. 我已经告诉过你们,细菌间是有社交行为的, 它们是使用这些分子进行交流的。
Of course, I've also told you that one of the important things they do is to initiate pathogenicity using quorum sensing. 当然,我也告诉过你, 其中一件主要的事情就是它们使用聚量感应来启动致病性。
initiate:vt.开始,创始; n.开始; adj.新加入的;
We thought, what if we made these bacteria so they can't talk or they can't hear? 我们不禁想,我们是不是 可以让这些细菌哑了或聋了？
what if:如果…怎么办?
Couldn't these be new kinds of antibiotics ? 这岂不是可以成为一种新的抗生素？
antibiotics:n.抗菌素;抗生素(如青霉素);(antibiotic的复数)
Of course, you've just heard and you already know that we're running out of antibiotics. 当然,你一定听说过,而且你早就知道了 我们快要没有有效的抗生素了。
Bacteria are incredibly multi-drug resistant right now, and that's because all of the antibiotics that we use kill bacteria. 现在的细菌都拥有,不可思议的多重耐药性 而这都是因为,这些抗生素的工作原理都是杀死细菌。
multi-drug:多种药物; resistant:adj.抵抗的,反抗的;顽固的;n.抵抗者;
They either pop the bacterial membrane , they make the bacterium so it can't replicate its DNA. 它们要么是使细菌的细胞膜破裂, 就是不让细菌复制自己的DNA。
membrane:n.膜;薄膜;羊皮纸; replicate:vt.复制; vi.重复; adj.复制的; n.复制品;
We kill bacteria with traditional antibiotics and that selects for resistant mutants . 当我们用传统抗生素来杀菌时, 会同时培养筛选出有耐药性的突变菌株。
traditional:传统的,惯例的, mutants:n.[遗]突变体(mutant的复数);
And so now of course we have this global problem in infectious diseases . 所以,我们有了全球性的 感染病问题。
global:adj.全球的;总体的;球形的; infectious:adj.传染的;传染性的;易传染的; diseases:n.[医]病(disease的复数);[医]疾病;[植保]病害;疾病种类;
We thought, well what if we could sort of do behavior modifications , just make these bacteria so they can't talk, they can't count, and they don't know to launch virulence. 我们想,如果我们可以稍微更改这些细菌的行为, 只是让这些细菌无法交谈,无法计数, 它们就不知何时发起毒性攻击。
modifications:n.修改;改进;改变;(modification的复数)
And so that's exactly what we've done, and we've sort of taken two strategies . 这就是我们已经完成的实验,我们使用了两种不同策略:
strategies:n.策略;行动计划;部署;战略;(strategy的复数)
The first one is we've targeted the intraspecies communication system. 第一个, 我们锁定菌种内通讯系统。
So we made molecules that look kind of like the real molecules -- which you saw -- but they're a little bit different. 我们制造了一些看起来跟真的分子很像的分子, 你们可以看到,它们间只有一点点的不同。
And so, they lock into those receptors, and they jam recognition of the real thing. 因此,它们会锁住这些受体, 并且干扰受体辨识真正的分子。
recognition:n.识别;认识;承认;认可;
By targeting the red system, what we are able to do is to make species specific, or disease specific anti-quorum sensing molecules. 既然锁定红色的系统, 我们就可以制造 针对菌种,或是针对疾病的「反聚量感应」分子。
We've also done the same thing with the pink system. 我们也对粉红色系统做了同样的事情。
We've taken that universal molecule and turned it around a little bit so that we've made antagonists of the interspecies communication system. 我们使用那种通用分子,将之做了一些更改 我们做了一些拮抗剂, 它们都是针对菌种间的通讯系统。
universal:adj.普遍的;全体的;全世界的;共同的; antagonists:对抗者;反派角色(antagonist的名词复数);
The hope is that these will be used at broad spectrum antibiotics that work against all bacteria. 我们希望这些分子可以用来作广谱抗生素, 对所有细菌都有效。
spectrum:n.光谱;频谱;范围;余象;
To finish I'll just show you the strategy . 最后,我只跟你们说一下战略。
strategy:n.策略;行动计划;部署;战略;
In this one I'm just using the interspecies molecule, but the logic is exactly the same. 在这个里,我们只是使用跨菌种分子, 但是思维逻辑是一模一样的。
logic:n.逻辑;逻辑学;逻辑性;adj.逻辑的;
What you know is that when that bacterium gets into the animal, in this case, a mouse, it doesn't initiate virulence right away . 你们都知道,当细菌进入动物体内, 以此为例,对这只老鼠, 它并不会马上启动致病机制。
right away:立刻;
It gets in, it starts growing, it starts secreting its quorum sensing molecules. 它进入,开始增殖, 开始分泌它的聚量感应分子。
It recognizes when it has enough bacteria that now they're going to launch their attack, and the animal dies. 当累积到足够数量时,细菌能识别, 并开始发起攻击, 然后老鼠就死了。
recognizes:v.认识;认出;辨别出;承认;意识到;(recognize的第三人称单数)
What we've been able to do is to give these virulent infections , but we give them in conjunction with our anti-quorum sensing molecules -- so these are molecules that look kind of like the real thing, but they're a little bit different which I've depicted on this slide. 我们所做的是在致病感染的同时, 加入我们的「反聚量感应分子」, 也就是看起来很像真的「聚量感应分子」的物质, 但是,正如同我在幻灯上指出的,它们之间有一点点不同。
virulent:adj.剧毒的;恶性的;有恶意的; infections:n.传染病;口腔病害(infection复数形式); in conjunction with:连同,共同;与…协力;
What we now know is that if we treat the animal with a pathogenic bacterium -- a multi-drug resistant pathogenic bacterium -- in the same time we give our anti-quorum sensing molecule, in fact, the animal lives. 我们现在发现, 如果让实验动物感染一种具有多重耐药性的致病细菌, 但是同时, 我们施予「反聚量感应分子」治疗, 动物就能够存活。
treat:v.治疗;处理;招待;款待;n.款待;乐事;乐趣; pathogenic:adj.致病的;病原的;发病的(等于pathogenetic);
We think that this is the next generation of antibiotics and it's going to get us around, at least initially , this big problem of resistance . 我们认为这应该是下一代的抗生素, 它将能够让我们,至少在开始阶段, 解决耐药性细菌的问题。
initially:adv.最初,首先;开头; resistance:n.电阻;抵抗;阻力;抗力;
What I hope you think, is that bacteria can talk to each other, they use chemicals as their words, they have an incredibly complicated chemical lexicon , that we're just now starting to learn about. 我希望你们也能认为,细菌可以彼此交谈, 它们使用化学物质当作语言, 它们拥有极端复杂的化学语汇, 我们现在才刚刚要开始学习这些语汇。
chemicals:n.化学制品;化学品;(chemical的复数) complicated:adj.复杂的;难懂的;v.使复杂化;(complicate的过去分词和过去式) lexicon:n.词典,辞典;
Of course what that allows bacteria to do is to be multicellular . 当然,也因为这些语汇 使细菌得以变得像多细胞生物。
multicellular:adj.[生物]多细胞的;多空隙的;
So in the spirit of TED they're doing things together because it makes a difference. 所以,就像TED的精神一样,它们彼此合作, 因为这样才能有一番作为。
What happens is that bacteria have these collective behaviors, and they can carry out tasks that they could never accomplish if they simply acted as individuals. 细菌因为有这些集体行为, 所以可以执行 一些如果是单枪匹马 是永远无法完成的任务。
accomplish:v.完成;实现;达到;
What I would hope that I could further argue to you is that this is the invention of multicellularity . 我希望能进一步地说服你们的是 这就是多细胞生物的起源。
multicellularity:n.多细胞;
Bacteria have been on the Earth for billions of years. 细菌已经生存在地球上数十亿年了。
Humans -- couple hundred thousand. 人类只有数十万年而已。
We think bacteria made the rules for how multicellular organization works. 我们认为细菌制定了 多细胞的组织运作规则。
organization:n.组织;机构;体制;团体;
We think, by studying bacteria, we're going to be able to have insight about multicellularity in the human body. 我们认为,由研究细菌, 我们将能够对,人体内的多细胞系统,有更进一步的认识。
insight:n.洞察力;洞悉;
We know that the principles and the rules, if we can figure them out in these sort of primitive organisms, the hope is that they will be applied to other human diseases and human behaviors as well. 我们现在已经知道基本规则了, 如果我们可以从这些原始生命体上进一步弄懂它们, 这些规则也有希望能够应用 到人类其它疾病与行为上。
principles:n.原则;主义;本质;政策;(principle的复数) applied:adj.应用的;实用的;v.应用;使用;申请,请求;(apply的过去分词和过去式)
I hope that what you've learned is that bacteria can distinguish self from other. 我希望你们已经学到 细菌是可以区分你我,
distinguish:vt.区分;辨别;使杰出,使表现突出;vi.区别,区分;辨别;
By using these two molecules they can say "me" and they can say "you." 使用这两种分子,它们可以表达「我」和「你」。
Again of course that's what we do, both in a molecular way, and also in an outward way, but I think about the molecular stuff . 当然,这就是我们所做的 不仅只在分子层面上, 同样也在行为上, 只是我在分子层次上想的多一点。
outward:n.外表; adj.表面的; v.同"outwards.outwardandhomeward"; stuff:n.东西:物品:基本特征:v.填满:装满:标本:
This is exactly what happens in your body. 这完全就是你们体内正在发生的事情。
It's not like your heart cells and your kidney cells get all mixed up every day, and that's because there's all this chemistry going on, these molecules that say who each of these groups of cells is, and what their tasks should be. 你们的心脏和肾脏细胞不会每天混杂在一起, 这是因为你体内有一大堆化学反应不断地进行着, 这些分子能够区分不同的细胞群组, 还有它们所应该执行的任务。
kidney:n.[解剖]肾脏;腰子;个性;
Again, we think that bacteria invented that, and you've just evolved a few more bells and whistles , but all of the ideas are in these simple systems that we can study. 再一次,我们认为细菌发明了这个机制, 你只不过是多演化出了一些铃铛与哨子而已, 但是所有的概念都包含在这个我们所研究的简单系统中。
evolved:v.(使)逐渐形成;进化;进化形成;(evolve的过去分词和过去式) bells and whistles:附加的修饰物;
The final thing is, again just to reiterate that there's this practical part, and so we've made these anti-quorum sensing molecules that are being developed as new kinds of therapeutics . 最后,只是再一次重申,这个研究的实际应用方面, 是我们已经制造出了这些「反聚量感应分子」, 它们正作为新一代的疗法被开发研究中。
reiterate:vt.重申;反复地做; therapeutics:n.疗法,治疗学;
But then, to finish with a plug for all the good and miraculous bacteria that live on the Earth, we've also made pro-quorum sensing molecules. 为了鼓励地球上生存的 所有对人有益的细菌, 我们也制造了「强化聚量感应分子」。
miraculous:adj.不可思议的,奇迹的;
So, we've targeted those systems to make the molecules work better. 因此,我们已经锁定了这些系统,让这些分子运作得更好。
Remember you have these 10 times or more bacterial cells in you or on you, keeping you healthy. 请记得在你体内体表,有超过你自身细胞十倍的细菌, 它们使你保持健康。
What we're also trying to do is to beef up the conversation of the bacteria that live as mutualists with you, in the hopes of making you more healthy, making those conversations better, so bacteria can do things that we want them to do better than they would be on their own. 我们也努力加强 你和你的共生的细菌之间交流, 让你更健康, 让这种互动更有益。 让细菌只做我们希望它们做的事情。 防止细菌做我们不希望它们做的事情。
mutualists:n.互助论者;共生生物;
Finally , I wanted to show you this is my gang at Princeton , New Jersey. 最后,我希望让你们看看 我在新泽西,普林斯顿大学实验室的成员。
Finally:adv.终于;最终;(用于列举)最后;彻底地; gang:n.一群; v.(英)去; Princeton:n.普林斯顿(美国新泽西州中部的自治市镇);
Everything I told you about was discovered by someone in that picture. 我今天所告诉你们的每一个发现,都是由照片中的某人所完成的。
I hope when you learn things, like about how the natural world works -- 我希望当你们学到东西的同时 比如:自然世界是怎样运作的,
I just want to say that whenever you read something in the newspaper or you get to hear some talk about something ridiculous in the natural world it was done by a child. 我只是想说,任何时候,当你们在报纸上看到某事, 或是你们听到某些有关自然的,好玩事情的演讲, 都是由年轻人完成的。
Science is done by that demographic . 科学是由这种年龄层的人所造就的。
demographic:adj.人口统计学的;人口学的;
All of those people are between 20 and 30 years old, and they are the engine that drives scientific discovery in this country. 这些二、三十岁的年轻人 他们是推动这个国家科学发现的引擎。
scientific:adj.科学的,系统的;
It's a really lucky demographic to work with. 我真的是非常幸运能与这群年轻人一起共事。
I keep getting older and older and they're always the same age, and it's just a crazy delightful job. 我自己在不断地变老,但他们却是始终不变, 这真是一个美好得不能再好的工作。
delightful:adj.可爱的,可喜的;令人愉快的;
I want to thank you for inviting me here. 我要谢谢你们的邀请。
It's a big treat for me to get to come to this conference . 非常荣幸能参加这个大会。
conference:n.会议;研讨会;商讨会;体育协会(或联合会)
(Applause) 掌声
Thanks. 谢谢
(Applause) 掌声