医学考博英语阅读 | 从巨蜥血液中提取抗生素，听起来有点像童话

小白老师说：美国科学家发现，生活在印度尼西亚科莫多群岛的巨型蜥蜴的血液**具有强大杀菌能力，或可用于提取抗生素，对抗两种“超级细菌”。相关研究发表于《自然》杂志合作的在线阅读开放期刊《生物膜和微生物组》。

Science and Technology

科技

Finding new antibiotics: The 48 uses of dragon’s blood

寻找新抗生素：巨蜥血的48种功效

Komodo dragons could be the source for a new generation of antibiotics

科莫多巨蜥可成为新一代抗生素的来源。

Mythology is rich with tales of dragons and the magical properties their innards （内脏）possess. One of the most valuable bits was their blood. Supposedly capable of curing respiratory and digestive disorders, it was widely sought. A new study has provided a factual twist on these fictional medicines.

神话中有许多关于龙的传说，以及它们体内器官所具有的奇妙功效的故事。其中最有价值的部分是它们的血液。据称可以治愈呼吸和消化系统疾病，因此被广泛追捧。一项新的研究为这些虚构的药物提供了一个真实依据。

Barney Bishop and Monique van Hoek, at George Mason University in Virginia, report in The Journal of Proteome Research that the blood of the Komodo dragon, the largest living lizard on the planet, is loaded with compounds that could be used as antibiotics.

弗吉利亚州的乔治梅森大学的 Barney 和 Monique 在 JPR 上发表了一份报告，他们发现这种地球上现存的最大蜥蜴的血液里充满了可用以开发抗生素的化合物。

Komodo dragons, which are native to parts of Indonesia, ambush large animals like water buffalo and deer with a bite to the throat. If their prey does not fall immediately, the dragons rarely continue the fight. Instead, they back away and let the mix of mild venom and dozens of pathogenic bacteria found in their saliva finish the job. They track their prey until it succumbs, whereupon they can feast without a struggle.

可摩多巨蜥，生活于印度尼西亚部分地区，它们经常对水牛和鹿等大型动物致命一击。如果它们的猎物没有很快倒地，巨蜥很少继续战斗。而是闪到一边，等待它们唾液中的温和毒液和致病细菌完成后半程。它们会跟踪受伤的猎物直到猎物挂掉，然后不费力的享受一顿大餐。

Intriguingly, though, Komodo dragons appear to be resistant to bites inflicted by other dragons.

有趣的是，它们似乎对同类的咬伤免疫。

Most animals—not just Komodo dragons—carry simple proteins known as antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) as general-purpose weapons against infection.

大多数的动物——不仅仅是科摩多巨蜥–体内有一种简单蛋白质，称抗菌肽，用来抵御外界感染。

But if the AMPs of Komodo dragons are potent enough to let them shrug off otherwise-fatal bites from their fellow animals, they are probably especially robust. And that could make them a promising source of chemicals upon which to base new antibiotics.

如果科摩多巨蜥体内的抗菌肽足够强力，让它们能够抵御同类的出乎意料的致命咬伤，那么它们必然特别的强健。这可能使它们作为一种有前途的化合物来源，用于制造新型抗生素。

With that in mind, and working with the St Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park in Florida, Dr Bishop obtained fresh Komodo dragon blood. He examined the blood for peptides with molecular weights, lengths, electrical charges and chemical characteristics that were similar to those from known AMPs.

有了这种想法，Bishop 博士和弗罗里达圣奥古斯丁的短吻鳄农场动物园合作，获得了新鲜的可摩多蜥蜴血液！他检查了血液中的肽的分子量，长度，电荷和化学性质，发现其与 AMPs 中的肽的性质相似。

He then analysed the peptides using a mass spectrometer and a combination of commercial and home-brewed software to identify which of the newly discovered peptides were likely to have medicinal potential. The team identified 48 potential AMPs that had never been seen before.

他接着利用质谱仪分析了提取的多肽，并利用商用和自用软件分析了这些新发现的肽，以辨别哪些有合成药物的潜质。该团队识别了 48 种可能是 AMPs 的蛋白质，此前从未发现过。

Their initial tests were equally promising.

他们的试验起初看来是同样的有希望。

Dr Van Hoek exposed two species of pathogenic bacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, to eight of the most promising peptides they had identified. The growth of both species of bacteria was severely hampered by seven of the eight; the remaining peptide was effective against only P. aeruginosa.

Van 博士将两种致病菌，铜绿假单胞菌和金黄葡萄球菌，暴露于他们发现的其中8种最可能的的多肽。在其中7种多肽前，两种细菌的生长被明显的限制；剩下的一种只对铜绿假单胞菌有抑制作用。

There results are noteworthy. Antibiotic-proof bacteria are an increasing problem in hospitals. Such bugs are now thought to kill some 700,000 people each year around the world, and P. aeruginosa and S. aureus are parental strains for some of the most menacing types.

结果值得注意。耐药菌是医院日益增加的一个问题。这些细菌每年在全世界造成 700，000 人死亡，铜绿假单胞菌和金葡菌一些最具威胁类型的亲代菌株。

On February 27th the World Health Organisation named both in its first-ever list of “priority pathogens”, for which drug-resistance is a serious problem. Dr Bishop’s findings hint that the blood of dragons may yet prove to be as useful against disease as myths suggest.

2 月 27 号，WHO 在它的第一份优先病原体名单中对上述两种细菌点过名，因为耐药已是一个严重问题。Bishop 博士的发现暗示巨蜥血液可能还没有被证明像神话传说的那样，对疾病的抵御那么有效。