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So we went back to molecular biology and started studying different bacteria,
所以我們回到分子生物學的方法，開始研究不同的細菌，
and what we've found now is that in fact, bacteria are multilingual.
我們現在已經發現，事實上，細菌可以講多國種語言。
They all have a species-specific system -- they have a molecule that says "me."
它們都有一個菌種特別識別系統，用特別分子來辨別同類。
But then, running in parallel to that is a second system that we've discovered, that's generic.
但是，我們發現，它們同時還有另一種系統，那是一個通用的系統。
So, they have a second enzyme that makes a second signal and it has its own receptor, and this molecule is the trade language of bacteria.
因此，它們有另一種催化劑，能產生第二種信號，這種信號也有自己的受體，這種分子是細菌們的公共語言。
It's used by all different bacteria and it's the language of interspecies communication.
它被所有不同的細菌所公共使用，是一種菌種間溝通的語言。
What happens is that bacteria are able to count how many of me and how many of you. They take that information inside,
細菌能夠計算并區分自己周圍同種與異種細菌的數量。它們傳遞這些訊息到細胞內，
and they decide what tasks to carry out depending on who's in the minority and who's in the majority of any given population.
然后決定該怎么做，它們的行動取決于在整個群體中誰占多數，誰占少數。
Then again we turn to chemistry, and we figured out what this generic molecule is -- that was the pink ovals on my last slide, this is it.
我們又使用化學方法搞清了這個通用分子的構造--通用分子就是我上一張幻燈的粉紅色橢圓形。
It's a very small, five-carbon molecule.
它是一個非常小的五碳分子。
What the important thing is that we learned is that every bacterium has exactly the same enzyme and makes exactly the same molecule.
重要的是，我們發現每種細菌都有完全一樣的催化劑，可以制造一模一樣的分子。
So they're all using this molecule for interspecies communication. This is the bacterial Esperanto.
它們都使用這個分子作為菌種間交流的語言。這是細菌的世界語。
Once we got that far, we started to learn that bacteria can talk to each other with this chemical language.
一旦我們了解這個后，我們知道細菌可以用這個分子來相互交流。
But what we started to think is that maybe there is something practical that we can do here as well.
但是我們又開始思考，也許我們可以使用這個發現來做一些實質上的應用。
I've told you that bacteria do have all these social behaviors, they communicate with these molecules.
我已經告訴過你們，細菌間是有社交行為的，它們是使用這些分子進行交流的。
Of course, I've also told you that one of the important things they do is to initiate pathogenicity using quorum sensing.
當然，我也告訴過你，其中一件主要的事情就是它們使用聚量感應來啟動致病性。
We thought, what if we made these bacteria so they can't talk or they can't hear? Couldn't these be new kinds of antibiotics?
我們不禁想，我們是不是可以讓這些細菌啞了或聾了？這豈不是可以成為一種新的抗生素？
