Jaap de Roode: How butterflies self-medicate

Prevodilac: Mile Živković Lektor: Anja Saric

So infectious diseases, right?

Zarazne bolesti, jel' da?

Infectious diseases are still the main cause

Zarazne bolesti još uvek su glavni uzrok

of human suffering and death around the world.

ljudske patnje i smrti širom sveta.

Every year, millions of people die of diseases such as T.B., malaria, HIV,

Svake godine, milioni umiru od bolesti poput tuberkuloze, malarije, HIV-a

around the world and even in the United States.

širom sveta i čak i u SAD-u.

Every year, thousands of Americans die of seasonal flu.

Svake godine, hiljade Amerikanaca umre od sezonskog gripa.

Now of course, humans, we are creative. Right?

Naravno, mi ljudi smo kreativni. Zar ne?

We have come up with ways to protect ourselves against these diseases.

Smislili smo načine da sebe zaštitimo od ovih zaraza.

We have drugs and vaccines.

Imamo lekove i vakcine.

And we're conscious -- we learn from our experiences

I svesni smo - učimo iz svog iskustva

and come up with creative solutions.

i smišljamo kreativna rešenja.

We used to think we're alone in this, but now we know we're not.

Mislili smo da smo u ovome sami, ali sada znamo da nismo.

We're not the only medical doctors.

Mi nismo jedini lekari.

Now we know that there's a lot of animals out there that can do it too.

Sada znamo da postoji i mnogo životinja koje mogu ovo da rade.

Most famous, perhaps, chimpanzees.

Najčuvenije su možda šimpanze.

Not so much different from us,

Nisu toliko drugačije od nas

they can use plants to treat their intestinal parasites.

i koriste biljke protiv svojih crevnih parazita.

But the last few decades have shown us that other animals can do it too:

Ali poslednjih nekoliko decenija nam je pokazalo da to mogu i druge životinje:

elephants, porcupines, sheep, goats, you name it.

slonovi, bodljikava prasad, ovce, koze, šta god vam padne napamet.

And even more interesting than that is that recent discoveries are telling us

A još su zanimljivija skorašnja otkrića koja nam govore da insekti

that insects and other little animals with smaller brains can use medication too.

i druge male životinje sa malim mozgovima mogu da koriste lekove.

The problem with infectious diseases, as we all know,

Kao što svi znamo, problem sa zaraznim bolestima je taj

is that pathogens continue to evolve,

da patogeni nastavljaju da se razvijaju

and a lot of the drugs that we have developed

i mnogi lekovi koje smo razvili

are losing their efficacy.

gube svoju efikasnost.

And therefore, there is this great need to find new ways to discover drugs

Stoga postoji velika potreba da se otkriju novi načini za dobijanje lekova

that we can use against our diseases.

koje možemo koristiti protiv naših bolesti.

Now, I think that we should look at these animals,

Mislim da bi trebalo da pogledamo ove životinje

and we can learn from them how to treat our own diseases.

i od njih naučimo kako da lečimo sopstvene bolesti.

As a biologist, I have been studying monarch butterflies for the last 10 years.

Kao biolog, proteklih deset godina sam proučavao kraljevske leptire.

Now, monarchs are extremely famous for their spectacular migrations

Ovi leptiri su veoma poznati po svojim spektakularnim selidbama

from the U.S. and Canada down to Mexico every year,

iz SAD i Kanade do Meksika svake godine,

where millions of them come together,

gde se skupe milioni njih,

but it's not why I started studying them.

ali nisam zato počeo da ih proučavam.

I study monarchs because they get sick.

Proučavam kraljevske leptire jer se razboljevaju.

They get sick like you. They get sick like me.

Razboljevaju se poput vas. Poput mene.

And I think what they do can tell us a lot about drugs

Mislim da to što oni rade može da nam kaže dosta o lekovima

that we can develop for humans.

koje možemo razviti za ljude.

Now, the parasites that monarchs get infected with

Paraziti kojima se zaražavaju kraljevski leptiri

are called ophryocystis elektroscirrha -- a mouthful.

nazivaju se ophryocystis elektroscirrha - stvarno komplikovan naziv.

What they do is they produce spores,

Oni proizvode spore,

millions of spores on the outside of the butterfly

milione spora na spoljašnjosti leptira

that are shown as little specks in between the scales of the butterfly.

koje se vide kao male mrlje između krljušti leptira.

And this is really detrimental to the monarch.

Ovo je zaista štetno po leptira.

It shortens their lifespan,

Skraćuje im životni vek,

it reduces their ability to fly,

ugrožava im sposobnost letenja,

it can even kill them before they're even adults.

čak može da ih ubije pre nego što dođu do odraslog doba.

Very detrimental parasite.

Veoma štetan parazit.

As part of my job, I spend a lot of time in the greenhouse growing plants,

Kao deo mog posla, provodim dosta vremena u stakleniku, uzgajajući biljke,

and the reason for this is that monarchs are extremely picky eaters.

a razlog je taj što su kraljevski leptiri veoma probirljivi po pitanju hrane.

They only eat milkweed as larvae.

Mlečiku jedu samo kao larve.

Luckily, there are several species of milkweed that they can use,

Na sreću, postoji nekoliko vrsta mlečike koje mogu da koriste

and all these milkweeds have cardenolides in them.

i sve ove mlečike u sebi imaju kardenolide.

These are chemicals that are toxic.

Ovo su otrovne hemikalije.

They're toxic to most animals, but not to monarchs.

Otrovne su za većinu životinja, ali ne i za kraljevske leptire.

In fact, monarchs can take up the chemicals,

Zapravo, ovi leptiri mogu da uzmu hemikalije,

put it in their own bodies, and it makes them toxic

stave ih u svoja tela, i time ih načine otrovnim

against their predators, such as birds.

protiv svojih grabljivica, poput ptica.

And what they do, then, is advertise this toxicity

Onda reklamiraju svoju otrovnost

through their beautiful warning colorations

kroz predivne boje upozorenja,

with this orange, black and white.

sa ovom narandžastom, crnom i belom.

So what I did during my job is grow plants in the greenhouse,

Tokom svog posla sam uzgajao biljke u stakleniku,

different ones, different milkweeds.

različite mlečike.

Some were toxic, including the tropical milkweed,

Neke su bile otrovne, uključujući tropsku mlečiku,

with very high concentrations of these cardenolides.

sa veoma visokim koncentracijama ovih kardenolida.

And some were not toxic.

Neke nisu bile otrovne.

And then I fed them to monarchs.

Onda sam ih davao kraljevskim leptirima.

Some of the monarchs were healthy. They had no disease.

Neki od njih su bili zdravi. Nisu imali zaraza.

But some of the monarchs were sick,

Ali neki od kraljevskih leptira bili su oboleli,

and what I found is that some of these milkweeds are medicinal,

i otkrio sam da su neke od ovih mlečika lekovite,

meaning they reduce the disease symptoms in the monarch butterflies,

što znači da mogu da smanje simptome kod kraljevskih leptira,

meaning these monarchs can live longer when they are infected

što znači da ovi leptiri mogu da žive duže kada su zaraženi

when feeding on these medicinal plants.

kada se hrane ovim lekovitim biljkama.

And when I found this, I had this idea,

Kada sam ovo otkrio, javila se ideja,

and a lot of people said it was a crazy idea,

i mnogo ljudi je reklo da je ta ideja luda,

but I thought, what if monarchs can use this?

ali sam pomislio, šta ako ovi leptiri mogu da iskoriste ovo?

What if they can use these plants as their own form of medicine?

Šta ako mogu da koriste ove biljke kao sopstveni vid lekova?

What if they can act as medical doctors?

Šta ako mogu da se ponašaju kao lekari?

So my team and I started doing experiments.

Moj tim i ja počeli smo da vršimo eksperimente.

In the first types of experiments,

U prvom tipu eksperimenata,

we had caterpillars, and gave them a choice:

imali smo gusenice, i dali smo im izbor:

medicinal milkweed versus non-medicinal milkweed.

lekovita mlečika naspram nelekovite.

And then we measured how much they ate of each species over their lifetime.

I onda smo merili koliko su od koje vrste jeli u toku svog života.

And the result, as so often in science, was boring:

Kao što često biva u nauci, rezultat je bio dosadan:

Fifty percent of their food was medicinal. Fifty percent was not.

50% hrane bilo je lekovito, 50% nije.

These caterpillars didn't do anything for their own welfare.

Ove gusenice nisu uradile ništa za sopstveno dobro.

So then we moved on to adult butterflies,

Onda smo prešli na odrasle leptire

and we started asking the question

i počeli smo da se pitamo

whether it's the mothers that can medicate their offspring.

da li su majke te koje mogu da leče svoje potomstvo.

Can the mothers lay their eggs on medicinal milkweed

Mogu li majke da legu svoja jaja na lekovitoj mlečiki

that will make their future offspring less sick?

od koje će njihovo buduće potomstvo biti manje bolesno?

We have done these experiments now over several years,

Ove eksperimente smo radili preko nekoliko godina

and always get the same results.

i uvek smo dobijali iste rezultate.

What we do is we put a monarch in a big cage,

Kraljevskog leptira stavljamo u veliki kavez,

a medicinal plant on one side, a non-medicinal plant on the other side,

lekovitu biljku sa jedne strane, nelekovitu sa druge,

and then we measure the number of eggs that the monarchs lay on each plant.

i onda merimo broj jaja koja leptiri polažu na svaku biljku.

And what we find when we do that is always the same.

Kada to uradimo, rezultati su uvek isti.

What we find is that the monarchs strongly prefer the medicinal milkweed.

Otkrivamo da kraljevski leptiri izrazito više vole lekovitu mlečiku.

In other words, what these females are doing

Drugim rečima, ženke poležu

is they're laying 68 percent of their eggs in the medicinal milkweed.

68% svojih jaja na lekovitu mlečiku.

Intriguingly, what they do is they actually transmit the parasites

Zanimljivo je to da one zapravo prenose parazite

when they're laying the eggs.

kada legu jaja.

They cannot prevent this.

One ovo ne mogu da spreče.

They can also not medicate themselves.

Takođe ne mogu da leče same sebe.

But what these experiments tell us

Ali ovi eksperimenti nam govore

is that these monarchs, these mothers, can lay their eggs on medicinal milkweed

da ove majke kraljevskih leptira mogu da poležu jaja na lekovitoj mlečiki

that will make their future offspring less sick.

od čega će njihovo buduće potomstvo biti manje bolesno.

Now, this is a really important discovery, I think,

Mislim da je ovo zaista bitno otkriće,

not just because it tells us something cool about nature,

ne samo zato što nam govori nešto sjajno o prirodi,

but also because it may tell us something more about how we should find drugs.

već i zato što nam može reći nešto više o tome kako da pronalazimo lekove.

Now, these are animals that are very small

Ovo su veoma male životinje

and we tend to think of them as very simple.

i za njih mislimo da su veoma jednostavne.

They have tiny little brains,

Imaju sićušne mozgove,

yet they can do this very sophisticated medication.

a mogu da se leče na ovaj veoma sofisticiran način.

Now, we know that even today, most of our drugs

Znamo da čak i danas, većina naših lekova

derive from natural products, including plants,

potiče iz prirodnih proizvoda, uključujući biljke,

and in indigenous cultures,

i u urođeničkim kulturama,

traditional healers often look at animals to find new drugs.

tradicionalni iscelitelji često posmatraju životinje da bi našli nove lekove.

In this way, elephants have told us how to treat stomach upset,

Na ovaj način, slonovi su nam rekli kako da lečimo bol u stomaku,

and porcupines have told people how to treat bloody diarrhea.

a morska prasad su ljudima rekla kako da se bore sa krvavom dijarejom.

What I think is important, though, is to move beyond

Ipak mislim da je bitno pomeriti se dalje

these large-brained mammals and give these guys more credit,

od ovih sisara sa velikim mozgovima i odati ovim mališama više priznanja,

these simple animals, these insects that we tend to think of

ovim jednostavnim životinjama, insektima za koje mislimo

as very, very simple with tiny little brains.

da su veoma, veoma jednostavna stvorenja sa sićušnim mozgovima.

The discovery that these animals can also use medication

Otkriće da i ove životinje mogu da koriste lekove

opens up completely new avenues,

otvara potpuno nove puteve,

and I think that maybe one day, we will be treating human diseases

i mislim da ćemo možda jednoga dana lečiti ljudske bolesti

with drugs that were first discovered by butterflies,

lekovima koje su prvi otkrili leptiri

and I think that is an amazing opportunity worth pursuing.

i mislim da je to neverovatna prilika koju vredi iskoristiti.

Thank you so much.

Mnogo vam hvala.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)