評(píng)論
打印
Wouldn’t it be great if we could trade genes with other species?
如果我們能和其他物種交換基因該有多好？
For example, suppose you could trade the family cat your genes for intelligence for its genes for physical coordination!
例如，假設(shè)你可以把自己的智力基因與家貓的靈敏基因作交換！
Well, okay, that’s not likely to happen anytime soon. But DNA trading really does happen in nature!
當(dāng)然，短期內(nèi)這個(gè)目標(biāo)難以實(shí)現(xiàn)。但是，DNA交易卻真實(shí)存在于大自然中！
The real DNA traders are bacteria.
真正進(jìn)行DNA交易是細(xì)菌。
Unlike more complex organisms, most bacteria reproduce asexually–that is, they just copy their own DNA, and then split in half, leaving one copy of the DNA in each half.
與較復(fù)雜的生物體不同，大部分細(xì)菌可以進(jìn)行無性繁殖——也就是說，它們只是復(fù)制自身的DNA，再分裂成兩半，每一半都保留著一份DNA。
Asexual reproduction can be a big advantage, since one bacterium doesn’t need another one around to reproduce.
無性繁殖是一種很大的優(yōu)勢(shì)，因?yàn)橐粋€(gè)細(xì)菌體無需另一個(gè)細(xì)菌就可以繁殖。
But, on the other hand, the bacterium doesn’t get the benefit of genetic diversity.
不過，另一方面，細(xì)菌也無法獲得基因多樣化帶來的好處。
譯文為可可英語翻譯，未經(jīng)授權(quán)請(qǐng)勿轉(zhuǎn)載!
