TE||Probiotics for vegetables
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导读
感谢本次思维导图作者
琚儿，英专，备考翻硕，外刊学习者
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听力|精读|翻译|词组
Probiotics for vegetables
蔬菜益生菌
英文部分选自经济学人Science and technology版块
Probiotics for vegetables
蔬菜益生菌
Some plants nurture soil bacteria that keep them healthy
一些植物能培养有益自身健康的土壤细菌
That knowledge may be useful to farmers
这一知识可能对农民们有用
THE bacteria which inhabit human beings, particularly the guts of those beings, have been found in recent years to be important for fending off disease. That something similar happens in other animal species is doubtless true as well. But work by Seon-Woo Lee at Dong-A University and Jihyun Kim at Yonsei University, both in South Korea, suggests that it is not only animals which benefit from such bacterial shielding. Their study, just published in Nature Biotechnology, shows that plants do, too. And that may have important implications for agriculture.
近年来研究发现，人体内的细菌（尤其是肠道细菌），对于抵御疾病有重要作用。当然，毋庸置疑的是在其它动物物种中同样会发生类似情况。不过，最近一项由东亚大学Seon-Woo Lee，延世大学Jihyun Kim两位韩国学者发表在《自然·生物技术》上的研究表明不仅仅是动物拥有这种细菌防御体系，植物也同样拥有。这一发现对于农业来说可能具有深远影响。
注:
Fend off:
[v]避开，挡开。fend谋生，保护，照料，fend for yourself照顾自己。
1.If you fend off unwanted questions, problems, or people, you stop them from affecting you or defend yourself from them, but often only for a short time and without dealing with them completely.
2. If you fend off someone who is attacking you, you use your arms or something such as a stick to defend yourself from their blows.
Crop plants of the nightshade family, such as potatoes and tomatoes, are susceptible to a soil bacterium called Ralstonia solanacearum. This enters their roots and spreads through their water-transport systems, causing them to wilt. Infection is usually lethal; the disease costs potato farmers alone $1bn a year. Some apparently suitable plants, though, seem exempt from R. solanacearum’s attentions. In particular, a variety of tomato called Hawaii 7996 does not suffer from such bacterial wilt. Dr Lee and Dr Kim wondered if the explanation for this exceptionalism lay with other bacteria in the soil.
茄科农作物，比如土豆和番茄，都易于感染一种名为青枯雷尔氏菌（Ralstonia solanacearum）的土壤细菌。这种细菌进入到农作物的根部，并且通过输水系统扩散，最终导致它们枯萎。这一细菌感染通常是致命的；仅就土豆种植户而言，每年因这一病害所带来的损失就高达10亿美元。但是，某些看起来很易感的植株却对青枯雷尔氏菌具有免疫力。尤其是一种被命名为Hawaii 7996的番茄，它们不会受到青枯病的侵害。李博士和金博士猜测造成这一特例的原因是否与土壤中的其他细菌有关。
注：
1. nightshade：茄属植物
2.wilt：枯萎，凋谢；变得萎靡不振，失去信心
3.lethal：[adj]致命的，有破坏性的；[n]致死因子
4.lie with：是…的权利/责任，取决于…，在于（due to）
To test that idea they grew crops of Hawaii 7996 and a second, wilt-vulnerable, tomato variety called Moneymaker. Once the plants were established, the researchers analysed bacteria in the soil around the plants’ roots and found systematic differences that depended on which tomato strain was growing. This observation made their hypothesis plausible.
为了验证这一猜想，他们种植了两种植株：Hawaii 7996和Moneymaker（易得青枯病的番茄品种）。植株一经种植，研究人员就开始分析这些植株根部周围土壤中的细菌，分析结果表明不同番茄种类的土壤细菌存在系统性差异。这一发现表明他们的猜想具有一定合理性。
They then transplanted some of their Moneymaker plants into soil that had previously supported Hawaii 7996s, and some of the Hawaiian plants into soil that had been home to Moneymakers. As controls, they similarly uprooted individuals of both varieties and replanted them in soil once inhabited by the same variety. That done, they exposed all of their plants to R. solanacearum and monitored them over the course of 14 days.
接着他们将一些Moneymaker品种的番茄移植到之前种植Hawaii 7996s番茄的土壤中，并将一些Hawaii7996s番茄移植到Moneymaker番茄之前生活过的土壤中。他们还分别迁移了两个品种的番茄种植到了相应同品种植株曾经培育过的土壤中以作为对照。在所有准备工作完成后，他们让所有植株同时接触青枯雷尔氏菌并在随后的14天内监测他们的生长情况。
They found the disease progressed almost 30% more slowly in Moneymaker plants grown in Hawaiian soil than it did in those Moneymakers that had been replanted into their own soil. In contrast, it progressed rapidly in the normally resistant Hawaiian variety when this was transferred into Moneymaker soil.
实验结果表明移植到Hawaii 7996s土壤里生长的Moneymaker植株的发病速度比移植到同品种土壤中的Moneymaker植株几乎要慢接近30%。相对的，那些本来具有抗性的Hawaii 7996s品种番茄被移植到Moneymaker植株土壤后，青枯病的发病速度也变得迅速起来。
Further study revealed that a single type of soil bacterium, called TRM1, appeared to be providing the protection. Dr Lee and Dr Kim therefore cultivated this bug in their laboratory and used it to treat soil into which Moneymaker plants were then planted. When these were infected with R. solanacearum they proved, though not completely resistant to it, certainly more resistant than others that had been planted into untreated soil as controls. More than 40% of them were still alive after 16 days. Only 12% of the control plants lasted that long.
进一步的研究发现，似乎是一种名叫TRM1的土壤细菌提供了这一防护机制。因此李博士和金博士在实验室培育了这种细菌，并将这些细菌加入培育Moneymaker植株所用的土壤中。当这些Moneymaker番茄感染了青枯雷尔氏菌之后，可以证实虽然这些番茄并没有完全抗病，但确实比控制组中的未经处理过的Moneymaker植株更加具有抵抗力。实验组中40%的植株都存活到了16天之后，而控制组中只有12%存活了那么久。
These findings suggest to Dr Lee and Dr Kim that the roots of Hawaii 7996 are releasing compounds which encourage the growth of TRM1. What those compounds are has yet to be determined. But the two researchers’ work suggests at least three ways in which bacterial wilt might be tackled. One is to apply TRM1 itself to the soil, if it can be cultured in sufficient quantities. The second is to apply the stimulating chemicals to soil, once they have been identified. The third is to tweak the DNA of vulnerable crops to produce the stimulating chemicals directly.
李博士（Dr. Lee）和金博士（Dr. Kim）认为，这些研究结果表明Hawaii 7996的根系能够释放出促进TRM1生成的化合物。这些化合物成分尚未确定，但这两位研究者的工作表明，至少有三种方法可以防治青枯病：一种是在TRM1细菌可以被大量培育的情况下，向土壤中加入这一细菌。；第二种是确定可以刺激TRM1生成的化学物质，然后将其添加到土壤中；第三种方式是修改易感作物的DNA，使其可以直接产生刺激TRM1生成的化学物质。
翻译组：
Muyi，文产小研，经济学人初段读者
Frank，男，小硕，经济学人的死侍
校核组：
Helga，女，笔译民工，经济学人爱好者
Alex，男，工科研究生，文学与科学爱好者，经济学人忠实读者
知识点收集组：
Tony, 英专，经济学人爱好者
Lillian,非英专学生党，经济学人读者
鱼酱，研究生备考，非英专，英语爱好者
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观点|评论|思考
本次观点由Joel独家奉献
Joel，男，数据分析，科技类外刊爱好者
每天我们都在与这个世界进行能量交换，在肉眼看不到的地方，微生物正无时不刻影响人类社会方方面面，无关益或者害。
微生物是自然界中分布最广、个体数量最多的有机体，是大自然物质循环的主要参与者。全世界人口量超过60亿，一个人身上的微生物数量可能就已经远超这个数。
微生物包括细菌、病毒、真菌以及一些小型的原生生物。文章中提到的TRM1土壤益生菌属于细胞核无核膜包裹，只存在称作拟核区（nuclear region)（或拟核）的裸露DNA的原核单细胞生物。
从荷兰人列文虎克（Antony van Leeuwemhoek，1632-1723）最早发现了细菌算起，人类与细菌相识不过几百年。就像脑科学的研究一样，人类对细菌的研究还处于非常初级的阶段。
给岁月以文明，给时光以生命。相较于漫漫历史长河，几百年恰如白骥过隙。我们对世界的理解可能永远达不到百分之百，但在一代代微生物学家的毕生奋斗中，我们定会见证一个更清晰的微观世界。
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