科学美国人60秒 SSS Some Malaria Mosquitoes May Prefer Cows to Us
时间：2018-12-24 作者：英语课 分类：2016年Scientific American(九)月
As you've probably experienced firsthand, some mosquito species have a real taste for warm, human blood. So much so that if you raise them on it the lab, they'll accept no substitute.
"Fortunately, I don't get major reactions at all." Brad Main is a mosquito geneticist at U.C. Davis… and part-time mosquito meal provider. "So it's not too bad for me. But some people in the lab are itching 2 pretty bad when they have hundreds of mosquito bites on their arms."
Out in the wild, some species are less picky. Take Anopheles arabiensis, common in East Africa. They'll feed on cattle, dogs, goats, pigs, people—wherever they can find a warm meal. But what Main and his colleagues wanted to know was whether the bloodsuckers' choice of victim might be genetically 3 determined 4. So they sequenced the genomes of 48 arabiensis mosquitoes from Tanzania which had fed on either humans or cows.
And they found that bugs 5 with cow blood in their bellies 6 had one partially 7 rearranged chromosome 8, compared to those who'd snacked on human blood… which could explain the preferences in meal choices. The study is in the journal PLoS Genetics. [Bradley J Main et al., The Genetic 1 Basis of Host Preference and Resting Behavior in the Major African Malaria 9 Vector, Anopheles arabiensis]
If that genetic switch really does make cows more attractive than we are to mosquitoes, in theory we could genetically engineer them to steer 10 clear of people. And their cow victims don't get human malaria. "It's a case of knowing your enemy. So the better we know these mosquitoes, the better equipped we're going to be to control them."
—Christopher Intagliata
[The above text is a transcript 11 of this podcast.]
- 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。
- The itching was almost more than he could stand. 他痒得几乎忍不住了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
- My nose is itching. 我的鼻子发痒。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- 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
- I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
- He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。
- All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- They crawled along on their bellies. 他们匍匐前进。
- starving children with huge distended bellies 鼓着浮肿肚子的挨饿儿童
- The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
- The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。
- Chromosome material with exhibits of such behaviour is called heterochromatin.表现这种现象的染色体物质叫做异染色质。
- A segment of the chromosome may become lost,resulting in a deletion.染色体的一个片段可能会丢失，结果产生染色体的缺失。
- He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
- Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。
- If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
- It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。
- A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
- They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。