细胞（2009）（3）

我将追溯地球上生命最初起源的证据
I'm about to look back to some of the earliest evidence of life on Earth.
它们被包裹在那些古老的化石里
Evidence trapped inside rocks from our planet's ancient past.
在恐龙时代之前很久很久
A time long before the dinosaurs.
甚至远早于海洋中最初的生命诞生
Even before the first creatures appeared in the oceans,
那是大约五亿年前
over 500 million years ago.
这就是细胞化石
They are fossilised cells.
很难想像这些细胞形成于10亿年前
These cells are a staggering one billion years old.
现在看来,地球上所有的生命都起源于同一个原始细胞
It's now believed that all life on Earth emerged from
也许它和这些细胞没有什么差别
one single primordial cell, perhaps not dissimilar to one of these.
从那之后,生命的火花在细胞与细胞之间
Ever since, the spark of life has passed from cell to cell
以完美的方式开始了永恒的传递
in a perfect, unbroken chain...
生命也随着不断地适应与进化
..with life adapting and evolving
形成如今地球上的数百万不同物种
into the millions of species on our planet today.
每一种生物身上,都能找到从原始细胞进化而来的痕迹
Every single one of them can trace its origins back to that first cell.
不过现在,我们即将迈出真正意义非凡的一步
But now, we are on the brink of something truly profound.
我们也许能从无到有,创造出活的细胞
We may be about to create living cells from scratch.
一旦成功,它将是地球上第一个
If we succeed, it will be the first life-form on Earth
非原始细胞进化而来的生命形式
that hasn't evolved from that original cell.
它也将成为生命的第二起源
It will be the second genesis.
细胞
生命的火花
纵观地球数十亿年的历史
In all the billions of years that this planet has existed, only once
只有一个细胞偶然地存活下来,并进化为现今的所有生命
did a cell survive to evolve into every living thing we have today.
但这还只是一种理论
That's quite a thought.
地球上的所有生命都起源于一个细胞
All life on Earth came from just one cell.
那科学家们要怎样在实验室里创造出生命呢...
So how are scientists going to create life in a lab...
..毕竟即使是大自然也不过成功了这么一次
..when nature only ever achieved this once?
我将去旧金山,在那里向大家演示：细胞为何是
I've come to San Francisco to show you why the cell could become
这个星球上最强大的工具
the most powerful tool on the planet.
在实验室中制♥造♥细胞,听起来就像科幻小说
Building cells in the lab sounds like science fiction,
但科学家们已经能像自然界那样改变细胞了
but scientists can already alter the cells that nature has made.
他们使用已进化了数十亿年的细胞
They can take cells that have evolved over billions of years
用不可思议的方式操控这些细胞
and manipulate them in unbelievable ways.
斯蒂芬·德尔·卡代尔博士带领着一个科研团队
Dr Stephen del Cardayre leads a team of scientists who have
他们从细菌细胞开始 重塑其内部运作原理
started with a bacterial cell and re-engineered its inner workings.
我们已经从本质上改变了这个细胞
We've basically remodelled the cell.
我们选取了一种天然的细菌,大肠杆菌,然后强化它
We've taken a naturally occurring bacteria, E.coli, and souped it up.
我们利用的是这种微生物的结构框架
We are taking this microbe, the chassis of this organism.
原理类似于造个大卡车
It is analogous to building a monster truck.
我们得先造个小的,就是这个细菌细胞
We start with a small truck, this bacteria,
然后我们取下原先的轮子,换上比较大的
and we pull off the original wheels and put in some big wheels.
史蒂夫和他的团队已经在这个细菌的原始DNA上
Steve and his team have added new genetic components
增加了新的遗传物质
to the bacteria's ancient DNA.
当他们将这种DNA经过改良的细菌细胞
'When they take this cell, with its modified DNA,
在含糖培养基上进行培养,结果真是太惊人了
and feed it sugar, 'the result is awesome.'
我想看看,好好看看,得在载片上找个好角度
I just want to get to it! I want to see them!I wanna find a good place on the slide.
就是这里
Stop there.
这个圆形的是一滴纯柴油
'This round thing is a blob of pure diesel oil.'
所以这些是细菌吗？
So these things here are the bacteria?
可以看到这些杆状形态
You can see the rod shapes.
对,这儿有一个,它们正处于或者说刚刚完成
Yeah, there's one.They're in the midst of, have just finished,
将可再生糖类转化为超纯度的分泌柴油(生物柴油)的工作
converting renewable sugar to secreted, ultra-clean diesel.
这是一种油产品
It's an oil product.
这些基因经过改良的细胞
'Feed sugar to these modified bacteria cells
消耗的是糖,产出的是柴油
'and they give you diesel oil.'
那一大滴也是油吗？
That big blob is simply oil?
那就是我们的超纯柴油,是成品燃油
That's our ultra-clean diesel product, a finished product fuel.
我们将其分离并稍做净化,然后就完成了
We have to separate it, wash it a little bit and it's ready to go.
你们肯定已经听腻了,但我还是要说这太疯狂了
You're really blase about this, but that is completely nuts!
你们让微生物生产出柴油
You have got microbes producing diesel.
我们自己也非常兴奋
We're really excited about it!
我们为此付出了艰辛的劳动
We've been working really hard on this.
不过这些小东西比我们更卖♥♥力
The microbes have been working harder!
这完全是革命性的创造
This is revolutionary stuff.
史蒂夫和他的团队建立了一个实验精炼厂
Steve and his team have set up a test refinery
加强版的细胞正在精炼厂里生产柴油
where these manipulated bacteria are now producing
这下可不是一滴两滴,而是以加伦计了
just not just a few drops of oil, but gallons of it.
这就是我们的成品,纯柴油
And this is what you end up with, in this case, pure diesel.
如果你还是不相信的话,请看接下来的
Just in case you think this is a hoax, watch this.
看哪
Look at that!
柴油动力
Diesel power!
太了不起了！几天前它们还只是普通的细菌细胞
Sensational! Just a couple of days ago that was just bacteria.
现在,却可以发动柴油发电机了！
Now, it's running a diesel generator!
这就是细胞的力量
That's the power of the cell.
柴油动力
Diesel power!
这里的实验
What's happening here
只是揭开了细胞在未来神奇作用的冰山一角
is a glimpse of what cells could do for us in the future.
它们是有生命的机器,拥有无尽的力量
As living machines, they have enormous powers.
目前,我们还只能操纵自然界已存在的细胞
Up to now, we have only been able to manipulate naturally-occurring cells.
但是,如果我们真能创造出生命
But how much further could we go if we could actually create life,
真能从无到有创造新细胞,未来将会变成怎样呢？
if we could build new cells from scratch?
为了让这一切成真,我们必须先解开一个最基本的谜题
To do that, we'd have to solve a fundamental mystery -
是什么给了细胞生命的火花？
what gives a cell its spark of life?
是什么让无生命的化学物质拥有了生命？
What turns lifeless chemicals into a living thing?
毫无疑问,我们需要先弄清楚
The obvious starting point is to try to understand
地球上最初的生命是如何诞生的
how life on Earth began in the first place.
我将从1859年发表的一篇文章开始
So I'm beginning with a man who in 1859 published a theory
文章中阐述了生命进化的问题
that addressed the question of how life evolved...
作者是查尔斯‧达尔文
..Charles Darwin.
这些都是达尔文曾经读过的书
These are Darwin's books that he owned.
我曾有幸去过他的私人图书馆
'I've been given unprecedented access to his private library.'
这本很重要,我可以看看这些书吗？
This is an important book. Am I allowed to touch these?
它们总让我感觉神圣不可侵犯
I feel like I can't touch these things.
这本是《物种起源》,在这本书中,达尔文
This is The Origin Of Species, the book in which Charles Darwin
简述了物竞天择,自然选择的进化理论
outlines the theory of evolution by natural selection.
这本可是独一无二的,其价值不可估量
But this copy is unique and totally priceless.
这是第一版的第一本
This is the first copy of the first edition, the one that the publisher
甫一下印刷线,发行商就将它送给了达尔文
sent to Darwin himself, hot off the press.
第484页有一段话非常重要,它深入解释了
On page 484, there's a remarkable passage which gives an insight
达尔文自己对生命起源的认识
into what Darwin himself thought about the origins of life.
地球上曾经存在过的任何有机生命体
"All the organic beings which have ever lived on this Earth
都是从同一原始形态进化而来
" have descended from some one primordial form
这就是生命最初的形式
"into which life was first breathed."
这并不能简单地理解为,我们人类就是
This doesn't simply say that we humans have evolved
由类人猿进化而来,事实上要复杂得多
from an ape-like ancestor. It goes much further than that.
它是说所有的生物,从昆虫到大象
It suggested that all living things, from insects to elephants,
从风信子到人类
from a hyacinth to a human,
都是由同一个祖先进化而来
have evolved from one single common ancestor.
这完全违背了圣经中关于创世纪的描述
It flew in the face of the Bible's account of creation.
同时,达尔文并未就这个最初的生命形式从何而来
At the time, Darwin didn't propose a scientific explanation
作出科学的解释
for what created this original life-form.
他这个所有生命源自共同祖先的理念
His notion that life was breathed into the primordial common ancestor
还是给造物主留了个位置
left room for the Creator.
尽管达尔文的《物种起源》
Yet Darwin's Origin Of Species
提出了科学史上最重要的观点
introduced one of the most important thoughts in science -
即地球上的所有生物都起源于同一个有机体
that all life on Earth sprung from one single organism.
但要知道这个有机体到底是什么
But to know what that organism would have been,
我们就必须提到达尔文时代另一个重要的观点
you have to turn to the other big idea around in Darwin's day.
那就是,所有生物都是由细胞构成
It was the theory that cells form the basis of all living things.
19世纪30年代,当这个理论被首次提出的时候
When it was first proposed in the 1830s,
无疑是惊世骇俗的
this was a shocking revelation.
从人、花朵,到青蛙
From Man, to flowers, to frogs,
该理论认为我们都是用同样的零部件构成的
it showed we're all made up of the same building blocks.
直到达尔文抛出进化论这枚重磅炸♥弹♥的时候
By the time Darwin published his work on evolution,
细胞理论才刚成为生物学的新基石
cell theory was the new bedrock of biology.
而至关重要的是,科学家们已经证实
And crucially, scientists had shown that new cells
新细胞只来自于现有细胞的分♥裂♥
are born only when existing cells divide.
所有活细胞都是从其它的细胞分♥裂♥而来
All living cells are descended from other cells.
所以,在19世纪这短短20年间
So, in just two decades in the 19th century,
科学家们就提出了生物学中最重要的两个理论
scientists had come up with the two biggest ideas in biology -
细胞理论和进化论
cell theory and evolution.