2006年VOA标准英语-Neanderthal Gene Studies Define Ties to Modern

By David McAlary
Washington
15 November 2006

Examination of a bone fragment from our long extinct relatives, the Neanderthals, has yielded unprecedented¹ genetic³ information about their mysterious relationship to modern humans. It shows that both human species diverged⁴ from a common ancestor about 500,000 years ago, give or take a few hundred thousand years, but that there has been little, if any, mingling⁵ since then.

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Photographer takes pictures of a statue portraying6 a Neanderthal man at Prehistoric Museum in Halle, Germany

Most of what is known about the stocky, muscular Neanderthals has come from a few fossil remains⁸ and artifacts found since the first bones were discovered in Germany 150 years ago.  But scientists who have performed a detailed⁹ study of a 38,000-year-old piece of Neanderthal leg bone from Croatia say new genetic analysis techniques can help yield much richer insights into their place in the human lineage.

"Instead of being a data-poor field largely based on bones and associated artifacts, it will become a data-rich field associated with DNA¹⁰ and enormous amounts, billions of bits, of data that will be freely available on the Internet," said gene² expert Edward Rubin of the U.S. Government's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. 

He and colleagues extracted a tiny amount of DNA from the Neanderthal bone and examined the structure of about two percent of its genome. The results are in the journal Nature.

Another team, led by geneticist Svante Paabo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary¹¹ Anthropology¹² in Leipzig, Germany, used a different technique to analyze¹³ about one-third of the Neanderthal genetic sequence from the same bone. These findings appear in the journal Science.

Mr. Rubin says among the findings is that Neanderthals were genetically¹⁴ the closest relatives to modern humans.

"By comparing the entire Neanderthal sequence that we had to the human sequence, we saw that both were very, very close to each other, from 99.5 percent to almost 99.9 percent identical," he added.

Another major discovery is that the lines that led to Neanderthals and modern humans split from a common ancestor roughly 500,000 years ago. The researchers say the date might be refined as larger genetic sequences are analyzed¹⁵.

But did the two species ever interbreed? That has been a key question among anthropologists, who have differing opinions. The new genetic studies show no evidence for it, but Svante Paabo says it will take further DNA analysis to rule it out. He says more Neanderthal bone discoveries from different regions would help clarify the issue.

"If we start seeing evidence for some interaction from modern humans into Neanderthals, that may be regionalized,” he said.  “That may be different in the Balkans than it is in central Europe, for example. We are continuing to look for bones, but we don't have anything in hand yet."

Paabo says a complete Neanderthal genome should be available in two years for more detailed comparison to the human genome and to that of the chimpanzee, the closest living relative to humans.

Edward Rubin says such matching will help researchers better understand the biology and behavior of Neanderthals, who became extinct about 30,000 years ago.

"All the functional¹⁶ data will come from the human genome, and the more we know about the human genome, the more we will know about Neanderthals," he added.

1 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

2 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

3 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

4 diverged   

分开( diverge的过去式和过去分词 )； 偏离； 分歧； 分道扬镳

参考例句：

• Who knows when we'll meet again? 不知几时咱们能再见面！
• At what time do you get up? 你几时起床？

5 mingling   

adj.混合的

参考例句：

• There was a spring of bitterness mingling with that fountain of sweets. 在这个甜蜜的源泉中间，已经掺和进苦涩的山水了。
• The mingling of inconsequence belongs to us all. 这场矛盾混和物是我们大家所共有的。

6 portraying   

v.画像( portray的现在分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• The artist has succeeded in portraying my father to the life. 那位画家把我的父亲画得惟妙惟肖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ding Ling was good at portraying figures through careful and refined description of human psychology. 《莎菲女士的日记》是丁玲的成名作，曾引起强烈的社会反响。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

7 prehistoric   

adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的

参考例句：

• They have found prehistoric remains.他们发现了史前遗迹。
• It was rather like an exhibition of prehistoric electronic equipment.这儿倒像是在展览古老的电子设备。

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

9 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

10 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

11 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

12 anthropology   

n.人类学

参考例句：

• I believe he has started reading up anthropology.我相信他已开始深入研究人类学。
• Social anthropology is centrally concerned with the diversity of culture.社会人类学主要关于文化多样性。

13 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

14 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物

15 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 functional   

adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的

参考例句：

• The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。
• The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。