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From the Health Section
文章來(lái)源：健康板塊
Cancer Research's Final Frontier: Do Plants'Ability to Withstand Stress in Space Enable Them to Fight Illness?
癌癥研究的最終前沿：植物在太空承受壓力的能力能使其對(duì)抗疾病嗎？
By Jessica Wapner
作者：杰西卡·瓦普納
Humans Aren't the only organisms with flexible genes.
人類(lèi)并不是唯一擁有靈活基因的生物。
Anything that reproduces contains a blueprint for making more of itself.
可繁殖的生物都有一個(gè)創(chuàng)造更多個(gè)體的藍(lán)圖。
And all DNA is susceptible to outside influence:
且所有的DNA都易受外界的影響：
The environment in which it lives can force dormant genes into action or new traits to appear.
所處的環(huán)境可使休眠基因發(fā)揮作用或者產(chǎn)生新的性狀。
Stressful situations—changes in climate, temperature or predators, for example—are particularly good at eliciting genetic change.
壓力環(huán)境改變氣候、溫度，例如食肉動(dòng)物尤其容易誘發(fā)基因變化。
The world of flora has long been a source of cancer-fighting therapies.
植物界一直是抗癌療法的來(lái)源。
The breast, ovarian and lung cancer drug paclitaxel, the most well-known example, originally came from the Pacific yew tree.
舉個(gè)最耳熟能詳?shù)睦樱委熑橄侔⒙殉舶┖头伟┑乃幬镒仙即迹畛踺腿∽蕴窖笞仙紭?shù)。
Drugs to treat testicular and some lung cancers are based on chemicals in the common mayapple.
治療睪丸癌和一些肺癌的藥物是基于常見(jiàn)的盾葉鬼臼中的化學(xué)物質(zhì)。
A group of drugs known as the vinca alkaloids, commonly included in chemotherapy regimens, are derived from Madagascar periwinkle.
常在化療方案中看到的一種被稱(chēng)為長(zhǎng)春花生物堿的藥物，是從馬達(dá)加斯加的長(zhǎng)春花中提取的。
When it comes to using plants as medicine, the very traits that enable them to withstand environmental stress are often the ones that fight illness.
談到用植物制藥，那么就不得不提起植物能夠承受環(huán)境壓力的特質(zhì)往往是與疾病作斗爭(zhēng)的特質(zhì)。
Joe Chappell, who researches natural products at the University of Kentucky, wondered whether exposing Madagascar periwinkle to a new threat would increase its anti-cancer properties by waking up inactive genes.
肯塔基大學(xué)研究天然產(chǎn)物的喬·查佩爾想知道，將馬達(dá)加斯加的長(zhǎng)春花暴露于一種新的威脅之下，是否會(huì)通過(guò)喚醒不活躍的基因來(lái)提高其抗癌特性。
To find out, he exposed the plant to a hazard it would never encounter on Earth: zero gravity.
為了找到答案，他將長(zhǎng)春花置于在地球上永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)遇到的危險(xiǎn)之中：失重。
Last year, Chappell, with the help of Space Tango, a commercial company that provides support for research in microgravity, sent Madagascar periwinkle seedlings to the International Space Station.
去年，查佩爾得到了為微重力研究提供支持的商業(yè)公司Space Tango的幫助，將馬達(dá)加斯加長(zhǎng)春花幼苗送往國(guó)際空間站。
He also sent seedlings of valerian, a plant with anti-anxiety properties.
一同送上太空的還有纈草（一種具抗焦慮特性的植物）幼苗。
In the coming months, Chappell will find out whether growing in orbit created changes in the plants'DNA.
接下來(lái)的幾個(gè)月，查佩爾將會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)在太空軌道上生長(zhǎng)是否會(huì)改變植物的DNA。
If so, those changes can be tested for their cancer- and anxiety-fighting attributes.
如果會(huì)改變DNA，那么這些變化可以用來(lái)測(cè)試它們的抗癌和抗焦慮特性。
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