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Scientists have discovered the genetic secrets of two unpopular members of two favorite food families. They hope the discoveries will produce tastier tomatoes and stronger rice.
科學家們已經發現了人們最喜愛食物家庭成員中兩種最不受歡迎作物其中的遺傳秘密。他們希望這項發現將使得西紅柿的口感更加美味，水稻的生長更為茁壯。
The scientists discovered the complete set of genetic rules of African rice and wild tomatoes. They published their studies in two reports in the journal Nature Genetics.
科學家們發現非洲水稻及野生西紅柿的完整基因編碼。他們的發現分別刊登在《自然遺傳學》雜志的2篇論文中。
There are good reasons African rice and wild tomatoes have not been popular. Asian rice is more productive and easier to process than African rice. The wild tomato is poisonous.
非洲水稻和野生西紅柿不受人民歡迎有其必然原因。相比非洲水稻，亞洲水稻更多產，更易加工。而野生西紅柿則是有毒的。
Rod Wing is a plant biologist at Arizona State University. He helped map the African rice genes. And there is some good news to report.
亞利桑那州立大學植物生物學家羅德·溫格幫助繪制了非洲水稻的基因圖譜。此外他還來了一些好消息。
"There are some varieties that have been kinda well-adapted to grow in kind of mangrove areas, which are quite a bit more salty than you would experience for Asian rice."
“有些品種已經了適應紅樹林地區的生長環境,而且嘗起來口感可能會比亞洲大米更咸。”
Mr.Wing says African rice can grow in salty and even poisonous soil. And it can grow around weeds and in extremely dry conditions. He says this strength is increasingly important as climate change makes crop production more difficult. He says that this is important because the Earth's population is growing quickly.
溫格先生表示非洲水稻可以在含鹽,甚至有毒的土壤環境種植。而且也可以在雜草和極端干旱條件下生長。他表示隨著氣候變化使得種植業難上加難，作物這種對環境很強的適應性就顯得愈加重要。他稱這點至關重要,因為地球的人口正在迅速增加。
"There's gonna be two-to two-and-a-half-billion more people on the planet in less than 40 years, and that's a pretty scary scenario."
“在未來不到40年時間內地球將會擠滿超過200億至245億人口,想想就覺得可怕。”
Scientists will be able to make better rice faster. They can now identify the genes that control what is good about African rice and combine those genes with Asian rice.
科學家們將更快的研制出更好的水稻。他們現在已經可以提取非洲水稻基因中的優勢并將這些基因與亞洲大米結合。
The wild tomato also has some good qualities. Scientists found that it can grow in salty as well as very dry conditions, like the African rice. Bjorn Usadel of Germany's RWTH Aachen University is one of the scientists who published the genetic maps of the two plants. The map identifies the genes that may be responsible for these qualities.
同樣野生番茄也有一些優秀品質。科學家們發現野生番茄和非洲水稻一樣可以生長在含鹽及干旱環境中。博朗·烏薩德爾是德國亞琛工業大學發表兩種植物基因編碼的其中一位科學家。圖譜鑒別的基因可能決定了這些作物的品質。
"The tomatoes are green and potentially there's something inside that's just not healthy; but there's also other interesting things inside."
“綠色西紅柿表明可能里面含有不健康的東西,但是也意味著有其他有趣的東西。”
The new map could also help improve the quality of tomatoes sold in food stores. Many people say these tomatoes do not taste very good. Mr.Usadel says researchers found differences in the genes of wild and farm-grown tomatoes that affect how they taste and smell.
新繪制的基因圖譜也可以幫助改善在食品商店出售番茄的質量。很多人都表示這些西紅柿味道不太好。烏薩德爾先生稱研究人員發現野生和農田種植西紅柿的基因差異決定著它的口味和氣味。
"So, even though these wild tomatoes definitely don't taste better, this population gives us actually an indication where the taste is coming from."
“所以,即使這些野生西紅柿就是嘗起來味道不是很好,實際上這里的人們給我們一種味道源自哪里的啟示。”
The scientist says there is another use for the map. He says it will permit scientists to make sure that any new kinds of tomatoes developed from wild tomato do not carry any of its poisonous genes.
科學家們表示基因圖譜還有另一種用途。這將允許科學家們確保任何由野生番茄演變而來的新品種西紅柿不攜帶任何的有毒基因。
I'm Caty Weaver.
我是卡迪·韋弗，這里是VOA慢速新聞報道。
譯文屬可可原創，僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載
