蟑螂奶未来或成为超级食品

 An international team of scientists has just sequenced a protein crystal located in the midgut of cockroaches². The reason?

最近，一个国际科学家团队确定了蟑螂中肠内的蛋白质晶体的结构序列。为什么要研究这个？

It’s more than four times as nutritious³ as cow’s milk and, the researchers think it could be the key to feeding our growing population in the future.

因为它的营养价值是牛奶的四倍多。研究人员认为在人口不断增长的将来，蟑螂奶可以成为人类的重要食物。

Although most cockroaches don’t actually produce milk, Diploptera punctate, which is the only known cockroach¹ to give birth to live young, has been shown to pump out a type of ‘milk’ containing protein crystals to feed its babies.

尽管大多数蟑螂自身并不产奶，但有一种斑点折翅类蟑螂，是目前已知的唯一一种胎生蟑螂，它会分泌出一种含有蛋白质晶体的“奶”来喂养下一代。

蟑螂奶未来或成为超级食品

The fact that an insect produces milk is pretty fascinating – but what fascinated researchers is the fact that a single one of these protein crystals contains more than three times the amount of energy found in an equivalent amount of buffalo⁴ milk (which is also higher in calories then dairy milk).

昆虫产奶这一事实本身已十分有趣，但更让研究者感兴趣的是一份蛋白质晶体中所含的能量是相同重量的水牛奶的三倍（所含热量也比相同重量的牛奶多）。

Clearly milking a cockroach isn’t the most feasible option, so an international team of scientists headed by researchers from the Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine in India decided⁵ to sequence the genes⁶ responsible for producing the milk protein crystals to see if they could somehow replicate⁷ them in the lab.

显然，要像挤牛奶一样挤蟑螂的“奶”并不是个切实可行的方法，所以这个国际科学家团队就决定测定控制产生蛋白质晶体的基因序列，尝试在实验室内复制这组基因。该团队的领头人是印度干细胞生物学和再生医学研究院的研究人员。

"The crystals are like a complete food - they have proteins, fats and sugars. If you look into the protein sequences, they have all the essential amino acids," said Sanchari Banerjee, one of the team, in an interview with the Times of India.

其中一名队员桑贾利·班纳吉在《印度时报》的采访中说道：“这些晶体就像完整的食物，有蛋白质、脂肪还有糖分。如果你仔细研究蛋白质序列，还会发现它们含有一切必不可少的氨基酸。”

Not only is the milk a dense⁸ source of calories and nutrients⁹, it’s also time released. As the protein in the milk is digested, the crystal releases more protein at an equivalent rate to continue the digestion¹⁰.

蟑螂奶不仅富含热量和营养物质，同时也具有时间控释性的。当奶中的蛋白质被消化，晶体会相应地释放出等量的蛋白质来继续被消化。

"It’s time-released food," said Subramanian Ramaswamy, who led the project. "if you need food that is calorifically high, that is time released and food that is complete. This is it."研究负责人萨布拉马年·拉马斯瓦米说：“这是时间控释性的食物。如果你需要高热量、具有时间控释性并且营养全面的食物，那么非它莫属了。”

It’s important to point out that this dense protein source is definitely never going to be for those trying to lose weight, and probably isn’t even required for most western diets, where we are already eating too many calories per day.

需要指出的是，这种高蛋白质的食物并不适合想要减肥的人，也不适合大多数西方人的饮食，因为西方人每天已经摄入了太多的卡路里。

But for those who struggle to get the amount of calories required per day, this could be a quick and easy way to get calories and nutrients.

但是对于那些每天努力要获得足够热量的人来说，这将是他们获取热量和营养快捷而简单的方式。

"They're very stable. They can be a fantastic protein supplement," said Ramaswamy.

拉马斯瓦米说：“它们十分稳定，将会是极好的蛋白质补充物。”

Now the researchers have the sequence, they are hoping to get yeast¹¹ to produce the crystal in much larger quantities- making it slightly more efficient (and less gross) than extracting crystals from cockroach’s guts¹².

目前科学家们已经测定出了结构序列，他们希望用酵母大量生产这种蛋白质晶体，相比直接从蟑螂肠中获取能更有效率一点，也比较不会令人恶心。

Vocabulary

sequence: 确定……的化学结构序列

amino acid: 氨基酸

time-released: 随时间发挥药力的，具有时间控释性的

1 cockroach   

n.蟑螂

参考例句：

• A cockroach can live several weeks with its head off.蟑螂在头被切掉后仍能活好几个星期。
• She screamed when she found a cockroach in her bed.她在床上找到一只蟑螂时大声尖叫。

2 cockroaches   

n.蟑螂( cockroach的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• At night, the cockroaches filled the house with their rustlings. 夜里，屋里尽是蟑螂窸窸瑟瑟的声音。 来自辞典例句
• It loves cockroaches, and can keep a house clear of these hated insects. 它们好食蟑螂，可以使住宅免除这些讨厌昆虫的骚扰。 来自百科语句

3 nutritious   

adj.有营养的，营养价值高的

参考例句：

• Fresh vegetables are very nutritious.新鲜蔬菜富于营养。
• Hummingbirds have discovered that nectar and pollen are very nutritious.蜂鸟发现花蜜和花粉是很有营养的。

4 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 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

7 replicate   

v.折叠，复制，模写；n.同样的样品；adj.转折的

参考例句：

• The DNA of chromatin must replicate before cell division.染色质DNA在细胞分裂之前必须复制。
• It is also easy to replicate,as the next subsection explains.就像下一个小节详细说明的那样，它还可以被轻易的复制。

8 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

9 nutrients   

n.（食品或化学品）营养物，营养品( nutrient的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a lack of essential nutrients 基本营养的缺乏
• Nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream. 营养素被吸收进血液。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 digestion   

n.消化，吸收

参考例句：

• This kind of tea acts as an aid to digestion.这种茶可助消化。
• This food is easy of digestion.这食物容易消化。

11 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。

12 guts   

v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠

参考例句：

• I'll only cook fish if the guts have been removed. 鱼若已收拾干净，我只需烧一下即可。
• Barbara hasn't got the guts to leave her mother. 巴巴拉没有勇气离开她妈妈。 来自《简明英汉词典》