英语听力文摘 English Digest 486、眼睛发光的蝴蝶

a butterfly with glowing eyes 

Believe it or not, Monteiro and her team inserted a new gene¹ into the butterfly’s genetic² sequence–one taken from a jellyfish.

No, I know you're fooling.

Actually I'm not. This gene codes for a green florescent protein that, in nature, makes certain jellyfish luminesce. By taking just that one bit out of a jellyfish sample, essentially³ attaching it to some modified DNA⁴ that naturally knows how to insert itself into a gene sequence, and then injecting the self-inserting DNA with the piggybackingjellyfish gene into some butterfly eggs, the researchers were able to produce a butterfly with glowing eyes. That’s already been done with other insects, but this is the first genetically⁵ modified butterfly in history.

That's weird⁶!

The idea isn’t to produce weird looking butterflies; the glowing protein acts as a marker. That is, when you have succeeded in inserting it into a new organism, it’s very obvious that it’s there. This is just the basic research that may one day allow us to modify gene sequences on a larger scale–to get rid of genetically based diseases, for example.

信不信由你，蒙泰罗和他的团队在蝴蝶的基因序列中插入了一种新基因，是来自水母的一个基因。

不，我知道你在开玩笑。

实际上我并没有。事实上，这种基因是一种使得某些水母发冷光的绿色荧光蛋白。通过从水母样品中取一点这种基因出来，把它们附在一些天生就知道怎么把自己插入一个基因序列的改良过的DNA中，然后将这种带有捎带式水母基因的DNA注入一些蝶卵中，研究者们就可以生产出眼睛闪闪发光的蝴蝶了。这个实验在其他昆虫身上已经做过了，但这是史上第一只转基因蝴蝶。

真奇怪！

这一想法并不是想制造出看起来怪异的蝴蝶，而是这闪闪发光的蛋白充当着标记的角色。也就是说，当你成功的将之插入一个新的生物体后，能很明显的看到它的存在。这仅仅是基础研究，也许有一天能让我们更大范围的修改基因序列——比如，摆脱遗传性疾病。

 

1 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

2 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。

3 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。

4 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。

5 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物

6 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。