“呼吸管”基因工程讓水稻抗?jié)?/h1>

   發(fā)布日期：2009-09-23

核心提示：A study in the journal Nature reports the discovery of rapid-growth genes in rice varieties that can withstand flooding by quickly rising above the new water line. Engineering other strains to include the snorkel genes could help rice yields. 發(fā)表在

    A study in the journal Nature reports the discovery of rapid-growth genes in rice varieties that can withstand flooding by quickly rising above the new water line. Engineering other strains to include the "snorkel" genes could help rice yields.

    發(fā)表在《自然》（Nature）雜志上的一項(xiàng)研究報(bào)導(dǎo)了在水稻品種發(fā)現(xiàn)的快速生長(zhǎng)基因，這種基因使水稻快速生長(zhǎng)，從而抵抗水澇。通過基因工程引入這種"呼吸管"基因能提高水稻的產(chǎn)量。

    Rice Really Rises to the Occasion

    You've probably seen pictures of farmers wading ankle deep through waterlogged rice paddies. Rice, it seems, is a crop that likes it wet. But if the water gets too deep, the plants can actually drown. To help rescue sinking rice, Japanese scientists have discovered a pair of genes that allow inundated plants to keep their heads above water.

    Most of the high-yield rice varieties grown today can't cope with being completely submerged. But a few strains of rice are actually fine with a good flood. As the water levels rise, so do they: their stems can shoot up 10 inches in a single day. But those fast-growing strains produce five times less rice than the higher-yield varieties.

    To get the best of both worlds, the scientists studied some submersible rice and found two genes that are not present in shallow-water varieties. These genes, dubbed Snorkel 1 and 2, switch on a program that triggers rapid stem growth, results published in the August 20th issue of Nature.

    Using genetic engineering to toss those Snorkel genes into rice that can't hold its breath could prove a real lifesaver. Not just to the plants, but to the people who rely on them for food.

    水稻真地能應(yīng)對(duì)水澇

    你可能看到過這樣的畫面，農(nóng)民在充滿水的稻田里來回走動(dòng)勞作。水稻似乎是一種喜水的農(nóng)作物。但是如果水太深的話，水稻就會(huì)被淹死。為了幫助"解救"被淹的水稻，日本科學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)了一對(duì)能讓水稻不被淹的基因。

    目前種植的大多數(shù)高產(chǎn)的水稻品種不能在完全被淹的情況下存活。但是有少量的水稻品種實(shí)際上不怕水澇。當(dāng)水面上漲的時(shí)候，水稻也往上長(zhǎng)：它們的莖稈能在一天之中長(zhǎng)10英寸。但是這些莖稈快速生長(zhǎng)的水稻品種的產(chǎn)量只有那些高產(chǎn)品種的五分之一。

    為了兼取上述兩種優(yōu)點(diǎn)，科學(xué)家們研究了一些抗水澇水稻，并發(fā)現(xiàn)了兩種在淺水水稻品種中沒有的基因。這些基因被戲稱為"呼吸管1"和"呼吸管2",這兩種基因能促使水稻的莖稈快速成長(zhǎng)，該研究結(jié)果發(fā)表在8月20日的《自然》（Nature）雜志上。

    利用基因工程把這些"呼吸管"基因引入到那些不能抵抗水澇的水稻中能真正起到"救生"的作用。這不但能"救活"水稻，也能解救那些依靠水稻為食物的人們。

    Vocabulary:

    Variety:（植物、語(yǔ)言等的）變種，變體

    Withstand:抵抗

    Strain: （植物的）品種；（疾病的）類型

    Snorkel: （徒手潛水用的）呼吸管

    Waterlogged: 水淹的

    Inundate:泛濫；淹沒

    Submerge:淹沒

    Submersible:能在水下使用的

    Dub:給…起綽號(hào)

更多翻譯詳細(xì)信息請(qǐng)點(diǎn)擊：http://www.trans1.cn

 

• 下一篇：雙語(yǔ)美膚課堂：五種食物 會(huì)傷害你的肌膚
• 上一篇：明凈肌膚抗氧化：十大美容食品

關(guān)鍵詞： 呼吸管 基因工程 水稻 抗?jié)?/font>

[ 網(wǎng)刊訂閱 ]  [ 專業(yè)英語(yǔ)搜索 ]  [ ]  [ 告訴好友 ]  [ 打印本文 ]  [ 關(guān)閉窗口 ] [ 返回頂部 ]

分享:

 

同類專業(yè)英語(yǔ)