Discovering the code of all life 探尋地球所有生命的密碼

本集內容

學習要點

有關 “life（生命）” 的詞匯

邊看邊答

What living things’ DNA is the project aiming to identify?

文字稿

“So now we’re just taking a sample of water from the pond so we can see what living things are in there.”

“現在我們正從池水裡取樣，這樣就能看到裡面有哪些生物。”

Even the most cutting-edge global science can start with a pond and a selfie stick.

即使是最尖端的全球科學也能始自一片池塘和一個自拍桿。

I’m assuming that’s teeming with life. But I can’t see anything in it.

我猜想這裡面充滿瞭生命。但我憑肉眼卻什麼也看不到。

“No, but once you look under the microscope, you will see.”

“是什麼也看不到，但隻要你在顯微鏡下觀察樣本，就會看到裡面的東西。”

This is a tiny part of one of the most ambitious scientific projects ever – to read the DNA of all non-human life on Earth.

這是迄今規模最大的一個科學項目當中的一小部分 —— 解讀地球上所有非人類生命的脫氧核糖核酸（DNA）。

That’s every plant, animal, fungi and single-cell organism, including the ones in the pond where these guys work.

這涵蓋所有的植物、動物、真菌和單細胞生物，包括池塘裡的生物，也正是這些工作人員研究的對象。

Dr Iain Macaulay, Technical Development Group Leader, Earlham Institute
It’s really exciting. Over the last ten years or so, a lot of techniques have been developed in biomedical sciences for doing single-cell sequencing… so, to analyse the DNA of individual cells from humans or mice. And what we’re doing is adapting those technologies.

伊恩·麥考利博士技術開發組組長厄爾漢姆研究所
“這真的很激動人心。在過去的十多年間，生物醫學領域內已經發展瞭許多用來做單細胞測序的技術……以分析人類或老鼠單個細胞的 DNA。我們正在做的事情就是調整這些技術以適應需要。”

So there’s [there’re] things in here that don’t have a name, let alone having their DNA sequence. They don’t even have a name yet.

這裡的生物，有的沒有名字，更別說它們的 DNA 序列瞭。它們甚至連名字都沒有。

Dr Iain Macaulay, Technical Development Group Leader, Earlham Institute
It’s entirely possible, yeah.

伊恩·麥考利博士技術開發組組長厄爾漢姆研究所
“這是完全有可能的。”

By studying DNA from wild species, they hope to find answers to global problems. Like how to breed crops to withstand disease and climate change.

通過研究野生物種的 DNA，他們希望找到解決影響全球的問題的答案。比如，怎樣培育農作物，使其能抵禦疾病和氣候變化。

Over the next decade, ten UK partners will decipher the genetic code of sixty-six thousand species. [It’s] part of a global effort to sequence one and a half million living things – with the results free for all to use.

在未來十年間，英國的十傢合作夥伴將破譯 6.6 萬個物種的遺傳密碼。這是測序全球 150 萬個生物工作當中的一部分，研究結果可供所有人使用。