時差N小時:狗是人類最親密的朋友

Yael: I was walking my cocker spaniel this morning,and we ran into two other dogs---a great dane almost as tall as I am, and a tiny Chihuahua! Ican't believe they are all the same species!

今天早上我在遛狗的時候碰到了兩只其他的狗——一只是跟我差不多高的大丹犬，還有一只小吉娃娃。簡直不能相信他們屬于同一物種!

Don: You know, scientists are making great strides in understanding the genes that allow sucha wide range of shapes, sizes and personalities in different dog breeds.

你知道的，科學家們在探索基因方面已經(jīng)取得了長足進展，在研究這些不同形狀，不同大小，不同性格特點的不同狗的種類的基因。

Did you know domestic dogs were bred from wolves about 15,000 years ago?

你知道國內的狗是由一萬五千年前的狼繁衍而來的嗎?

Y: That's pretty recent in evolutionary terms, isn't it?

從進化的角度來講，那就是近些年的事兒，不是嗎?

D: Very! Humans have sped up the diversification of dogs by selecting for particular physicalor behavioral traits such as size, coat type, trainability, and hunting or herding ability.

太對了。人類通過選擇特定的生理和行為特征，如大小、外觀、是否可訓練性和狩獵型或放牧的能力，已經(jīng)加快了狗種的多樣化。

But dogs still show greater variety than any other domesticated animal, and for a long timethis variance has largely been unexplained.

但是相比其他家養(yǎng)動物而言，狗顯示出更明顯的多樣性，并且在很長的一段時間內，人們無法解釋這種多樣性。

A group of genetics researchers collaborated with dog breeders and veterinarians to study theDNA from 148 different dog breeds.

一個基因研究小組與狗的飼養(yǎng)者和獸醫(yī)合作研究了來自148個不同狗品種的DNA。

With such a large sample of genes from very different kinds of dogs, they were able toidentify regions in the dog DNA that are important in regulating some key traits that differbetween breeds.

在來自不同的狗的DNA大樣本的研究下，他們鑒定出狗DNA中的區(qū)域特征在決定狗的某些區(qū)別與其他狗的關鍵特征方面有著至關重要的作用。

Four regions were found that may regulate life span, a breed characteristic that usuallydecreases with increasing body size.

有四個區(qū)域可以調節(jié)壽命，而且品種的特性會隨著體型的變大而逐漸消失。

Regions associated with some behavioral stereotypes like herding, pointing and boldness werealso identified.

而且也確認了那些和固有品性相關的區(qū)域，像是放牧，勾縫以及大膽嘗試。

Y: What can they do with this information?

他們會拿這些信息做什么?

D: The study could have far-reaching benefits for dogs and their owners.

這項研究對于狗和他們的主人都是有深遠影響的。

With further research, dog owners and vets could use this information to customize the care,diet and medicines to the particular needs of their breed, and to identify and perhapsprevent breed-specific diseases.

進一步研究會得出，狗主人和獸醫(yī)可以憑此信息對有特定需求的狗定制保健，飲食和藥物，并識別同時也可能會防治特種狗的疾病。