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We also then went to look at what are these molecules -- these were the red triangles on my slides before.
我們同時(shí)也研究了這些小分子，這些就是我剛才幻燈上的小紅三角形。
This is the Vibrio fischeri molecule. This is the word that it talks with.
這個(gè)是費(fèi)氏弧菌的小分子。也就是它們用以交談的文字。
So then we started to look at other bacteria, and these are just a smattering of the molecules that we've discovered.
我們開始研究其他細(xì)菌，這些是部分我們已發(fā)現(xiàn)的小分子。
What I hope you can see is that the molecules are related.
我希望你們看得出來，這些分子之間是有關(guān)聯(lián)性的。
The left-hand part of the molecule is identical in every single species of bacteria.
每種細(xì)菌，它們的小分子的左半部都是完全相同的。
But the right-hand part of the molecule is a little bit different in every single species.
只是在右半部則因菌種的不同而有少許的不同。
What that does is to confer exquisite species specificities to these languages.
這個(gè)發(fā)現(xiàn)證實(shí)細(xì)菌的語言有高度的專一性。
Each molecule fits into its partner receptor and no other.
每一種分子只能與其相對受器結(jié)合，非常專一。
So these are private, secret conversations. These conversations are for intraspecies communication.
所以這些交談是私下的、秘密的。這種交流是只限于同種族內(nèi)部的溝通。
Each bacteria uses a particular molecule that's its language that allows it to count its own siblings.
每一種細(xì)菌使用其特殊分子代表它的語言，讓它能夠計(jì)算同類的數(shù)量。
Once we got that far we thought we were starting to understand that bacteria have these social behaviors.
一旦我們了解這些，我們也開始了解細(xì)菌有所謂的社交行為。
But what we were really thinking about is that most of the time bacteria don't live by themselves,
但我們真正思考的問題是，在多數(shù)情況下，細(xì)菌并不是單獨(dú)生活的，
they live in incredible mixtures, with hundreds or thousands of other species of bacteria.
它們居住的地方是魚龍混雜的，它們跟其它成百上千種的細(xì)菌同居一處。
And that's depicted on this slide. This is your skin. So this is just a picture -- a micrograph of your skin.
這張幻燈可以說明這個(gè)情形：這是你的皮膚。這是一張照片，是你皮膚的顯微照片。
Anywhere on your body, it looks pretty much like this, and what I hope you can see is that there's all kinds of bacteria there.
在你身體的任何地方，看上去都會(huì)和這差不多。我希望你能看出，這里有各種不同的細(xì)菌。
And so we started to think if this really is about communication in bacteria,
因此我們開始思考，如果這真的是細(xì)菌間的交流，
and it's about counting your neighbors, it's not enough to be able to only talk within your species.
計(jì)算與之相鄰的同種細(xì)菌的數(shù)量，只跟同種細(xì)菌溝通是不夠的，
There has to be a way to take a census of the rest of the bacteria in the population.
它們一定有某種跟周圍其他種細(xì)菌和平共處的方法。
