课程咨询
托福培训

扫码免费领资料

内含托福全科备考资料

更有免费水平测试及备考规划

托福培训

扫码关注掌握一手留学资讯

回复XDF免费水平测试

托福听力练习-科学美国人60秒:尼安德特人基因

2017-06-09 09:27:00来源:科学美国人60秒

点击查看>>科学美国人60秒音频:尼安德特人基因

  科学美国人60秒听力练习:尼安德特人基因

  科学美国人60秒英文文本

  This is Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.

  Fifty thousand years ago, Homo sapiens weren't the only game in town. We were just one of several species of hominids roaming the Earth, like the Neandertals in Eurasia. And when our sapiens ancestors came in contact with them, they sometimes hooked up. Which means many people today of Eurasian descent still carry copies of Neandertal genes. But what do those genes do?

  Researchers tried to answer that question by examining the modern human genome. And they found that, on average, Neandertal versions of genes are not active as much as their modern human counterparts in the brain—and the testicles. Meaning Neandertal variants have less influence there. Possibly, researchers say, because those tissues underwent significant changes since what became modern humans and Neandertals diverged 700,000 years ago.

  "Really, our results show that Neandertal sequences that are present in modern humans aren't just silent remnants of hybridization that occurred 50,000 years ago, but they really have widespread measurable impacts on gene expression to this day." Rajiv McCoy, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Washington. In other words, genes we got from Neandertals play roles in the activation of various other of our genes, leading to the production of different kinds of proteins.

  The study is in the journal Cell.

  It also turns out that, for one gene in particular, if you carry the Neandertal mutation, "you have slightly lower risk of schizophrenia. And you also have slightly increased height on average."

  The Neandertals left their mark on lots of modern human traits, in addition to schizophrenia and height. But McCoy says, keep in mind: "These are complex traits. And they're controlled by thousands of different genes, and we're measuring statistically significant effects." Neandertals are long gone—but some of their genes live on.

  Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.

  中文翻译请点击下一页

托福辅导

关注新东方在线托福

托福机经·Official题目练习

考前重点突破·听说读写海量资料

更多资料
更多>>
更多内容

免费获取托福备考大礼包

微信扫描下方二维码 立即领取

托福辅导
更多>>
更多公益讲座>>
更多>>
更多资料