Animations of unseeable biology | Drew Berry | TED

翻译人员: Emma Zhao 校对人员: Guo Tang

What I'm going to show you are the astonishing molecular machines

我要展示给大家的

是创造了你们身体活组织

that create the living fabric of your body.

的惊人的分子机器

Now molecules are really, really tiny.

分子实在是很小

说到小呢，

And by tiny, I mean really.

我的意思是真小

They're smaller than a wavelength of light,

它们比光的波长还小，

so we have no way to directly observe them.

所以，我们无法直接观察它们

但是，通过科学，我们有一个很好的概念

But through science, we do have a fairly good idea

分子比例是怎么回事

of what's going on down at the molecular scale.

我们能做到真实地告诉你分子的情况，

So what we can do is actually tell you about the molecules,

but we don't really have a direct way of showing you the molecules.

但我们不能有一个直接的方法把分子展示给你们

有一种方法就是画图

One way around this is to draw pictures.

And this idea is actually nothing new.

实际上这已不是个新方法

Scientists have always created pictures

科学家们总是在创造图片

作为他们思考和发现过程的一部分

as part of their thinking and discovery process.

他们借助望远镜和显微镜之类的技术，

They draw pictures of what they're observing with their eyes,

through technology like telescopes and microscopes,

以及他们大脑思考的

画出他们所观察到的

and also what they're thinking about in their minds.

I picked two well-known examples,

我举两个众所周知的例子，

because they're very well-known for expressing science through art.

因为他们以通过艺术来表达科学而著名

我先从伽利略开始

And I start with Galileo, who used the world's first telescope

伽利略用过世界上第一台望远镜

来看月亮

to look at the Moon.

And he transformed our understanding of the Moon.

他改变了我们对月亮的理解

The perception in the 17th century

17世纪的感知

was the Moon was a perfect heavenly sphere.

月亮是个完美的天球

But what Galileo saw was a rocky, barren world,

可是，伽利略所看到的是坚硬的，贫瘠的世界，

which he expressed through his watercolor painting.

他通过他的水彩画表达了出来

Another scientist with very big ideas,

另一位的科学家有一个很大的想法，

他就是生物学界的超级明星-查尔斯·达尔文

the superstar of biology is Charles Darwin.

在他的笔记里，那著名的开始语，

And with this famous entry in his notebook,

他从左上角开始写道：“我认为，”

he begins in the top left-hand corner with, "I think,"

接着呢，画出了第一棵生命树，

and then sketches out the first tree of life,

which is his perception of how all the species,

那就是他的见解

地球上所有的物种及生物，

all living things on Earth are connected through evolutionary history --

如何通过进化的历史而连接起来

the origin of species through natural selection

物种的起源来自物竞天择

and divergence from an ancestral population.

并分歧于一个祖先群体

Even as a scientist,

即使作为一名科学家，

I used to go to lectures by molecular biologists

我曾参加过分子生物学家们的演讲

发现完全无法理解，

and find them completely incomprehensible,

with all the fancy technical language and jargon

他们使用所有时髦的技术语言和行话

来描述他们的作品，

that they would use in describing their work,

知道我遇到大卫 古德塞尔的艺术作品，

until I encountered the artworks of David Goodsell,

他是斯克里普斯研究所的分子生物学家

who is a molecular biologist at the Scripps Institute.

他的图画，

And his pictures -- everything's accurate and it's all to scale.

样样都精确，并且都按比例

And his work illuminated for me

他的作品对我释明

what the molecular world inside us is like.

我们内在的分子世界是什么样

这是通过血液的一个横断面

So this is a transection through blood.

In the top left-hand corner, you've got this yellow-green area.

在左上角，你看到这个黄绿色的区域

这个黄绿区血液的流体，大部分是水分，

The yellow-green area is the fluid of blood, which is mostly water,

但它也是抗体，糖分，

but it's also antibodies, sugars, hormones, that kind of thing.

和激素类的东西

And the red region is a slice into a red blood cell.

这个红色区是一个红血球的切片

And those red molecules are hemoglobin.

这些红分子是血红蛋白

They are actually red; that's what gives blood its color.

它们实际就是红色，也就是血液的颜色

血红蛋白像是一个分子海绵

And hemoglobin acts as a molecular sponge

在你的肺里面浸透氧气

to soak up the oxygen in your lungs

再带到身体的其他部位

and then carry it to other parts of the body.

很多年前，我就很被这个图像所激励，

I was very much inspired by this image many years ago,

and I wondered whether we could use computer graphics

我就想是否能够使用电脑绘图

来描绘分子世界

to represent the molecular world.

它会是个什么样子呢？

What would it look like?

And that's how I really began.

就这样我就开始了。现在让我们来看，

So let's begin.

This is DNA in its classic double helix form.

这是传统的DNA的双螺旋结构，

它来自X射线晶体学，

And it's from X-ray crystallography, so it's an accurate model of DNA.

所以它是一个精确的DNA模型

If we unwind the double helix and unzip the two strands,

如果我们把双螺旋展开，把两股拉开，

你们看到它们像牙齿一样

you see these things that look like teeth.

这些就是遗传密码的字母，

Those are the letters of genetic code,

在你的DNA上有25，000个基因

the 25,000 genes you've got written in your DNA.

This is what they typically talk about -- the genetic code --

这就是他们通常谈论的 --

遗传密码--大家都这样讲的

this is what they're talking about.

我想从不同的角度来谈论DNA科学，

But I want to talk about a different aspect of DNA science,

那是DNA的物理性质

and that is the physical nature of DNA.

这两条线走向不同的方向

It's these two strands that run in opposite directions

for reasons I can't go into right now.

我现在先不讲什么原因

But they physically run in opposite directions,

它们实际上就是在走向不同的方向，

这就给你们的活细胞制作了大量的混乱，

which creates a number of complications for your living cells,

你会看到，

as you're about to see,

大多数特别是在DNA复制过程中

most particularly when DNA is being copied.

And so what I'm about to show you

我就要给你们看的是

is an accurate representation of the actual DNA replication machine

是一个精确的描述

有关DNA在你身体内部的实际复制，

that's occurring right now inside your body,

至少是2002的生物学

at least 2002 biology.

So DNA's entering the production line from the left-hand side,

DNA从左手边进入生产线，

and it hits this collection, these miniature biochemical machines,

撞倒这一堆小型的生化机器，

这些生化机器把DNA线拉开，重新复制

that are pulling apart the DNA strand and making an exact copy.

DNA进来

So DNA comes in and hits this blue, doughnut-shaped structure

碰到这个蓝色的，圆圈状的结构

and it's ripped apart into its two strands.

把两条线扯开

一条线可以直接复制，

One strand can be copied directly,

你能看到这些放在底部

and you can see these things spooling off to the bottom there.

但另一条线就没有这么简单

But things aren't so simple for the other strand

因为它要反向复制

because it must be copied backwards.

它要反复在这些圈里被推出

So it's thrown out repeatedly in these loops

一次复制一段，

and copied one section at a time, creating two new DNA molecules.

创造两个新的DNA分子

Now you have billions of this machine right now working away inside you,

现在你有成千上亿的机器

此时此刻就在你里面工作，

copying your DNA with exquisite fidelity.

忠实细致地复制着你的DNA

这是个很精确的描述，

It's an accurate representation,

它的速度和你体内发生的正在进行的一样

and it's pretty much at the correct speed for what is occurring inside you.

我没提一些更正和其它的

I've left out error correction and a bunch of other things.

(Laughter)

这是几年前的作品

This was work from a number of years ago--

谢谢！

Thank you.

这个是几年前的作品，

(Applause)

This is work from a number of years ago,

接下来我要给你们看的是最新的科学，最新的技术

but what I'll show you next is updated science,

it's updated technology.

我们再次从DNA开始

So again, we begin with DNA.

因为周围被分子包围，它就不停摇摆扭动，

And it's jiggling and wiggling there

because of the surrounding soup of molecules,

我揭开了所以你们看得到

which I've stripped away so you can see something.

DNA大约有两个纳米宽，

DNA is about two nanometers across, which is really quite tiny.

真的是非常小

在你的每一个细胞里，

But in each one of your cells,

每条DNA大约是3至4千万纳米长

each strand of DNA is about 30 to 40 million nanometers long.

So to keep the DNA organized and regulate access to the genetic code,

为了保持DNA有组织有规律地到达遗传密码，

它是被这些紫色的蛋白质包着--

it's wrapped around these purple proteins --

这是我是用了紫色

or I've labeled them purple here.

它打好包，打好捆

It's packaged up and bundled up.

All this field of view is a single strand of DNA.

这里看到的是单条的DNA

This huge package of DNA is called a chromosome.

这一大包的DNA叫做染色体

And we'll come back to chromosomes in a minute.

我们过会再回来讲染色体

We're pulling out, we're zooming out,

我们拉出来，拉远缩小，

out through a nuclear pore,

通过核膜孔拉出来，

which is the gateway to this compartment that holds all the DNA,

核膜孔是通往储存DNA包厢的通道

called the nucleus.

称为细胞核

All of this field of view is about a semester's worth of biology,

这里所看到的

够上一个学期的生物课，我把它压缩成7分钟

and I've got seven minutes,

所以今天我们能不能讲那么细呢？

So we're not going to be able to do that today?

不能的，我被告知，不能的

No, I'm being told, "No."

This is the way a living cell looks down a light microscope.

这里是在光学显微镜下看到的活细胞

因为是採用慢速摄影，所以你们能看到它在动

And it's been filmed under time-lapse, which is why you can see it moving.

核膜打开了

The nuclear envelope breaks down.

这些形状像香肠的是染色体，我们集中讲一下他们

These sausage-shaped things are the chromosomes,

and we'll focus on them.

它们通过非常明显的运动

They go through this very striking motion that is focused on these little red spots.

集中在这些小红点上

当细胞准备好了，

When the cell feels it's ready to go, it rips apart the chromosome.

它就脱离染色体

One set of DNA goes to one side,

一组DNA去这一边，

the other side gets the other set of DNA --

另一组DNA就去另一边

identical copies of DNA.

DNA的复制一模一样

And then the cell splits down the middle.

接下来，细胞在中间分裂

And again, you have billions of cells undergoing this process

同样，你有成千上亿的细胞

此时此刻在你体内正在做这个工序

right now inside of you.

Now we're going to rewind and just focus on the chromosomes,

我们再回来看染色体

and look at its structure and describe it.

看看它的结构来讲述一下

我们现在是赤道时刻

So again, here we are at that equator moment.

染色体们排着队

The chromosomes line up.

And if we isolate just one chromosome,

如果我们分出一条染色体，

we're going to pull it out and have a look at its structure.

我们把它拿出来看看它的结构

这是你拥有的最大分子结构之一，

So this is one of the biggest molecular structures that you have,

至少是至今我们发现的我们体内的

at least as far as we've discovered so far inside of us.

这是个单条染色体

So this is a single chromosome.

每条染色体有两条DNA

And you have two strands of DNA in each chromosome.

One is bundled up into one sausage.

一条卷起来进到一条香肠里

The other strand is bundled up into the other sausage.

另一条卷起来进到另一条香肠里

这些像胡须的东西从另一头伸出来

These things that look like whiskers that are sticking out from either side

它们是细胞的动态支架

are the dynamic scaffolding of the cell.

They're called microtubules, that name's not important.

他们称作微管。名字并不重要

我们要集中在这个红色区域，我把它标成红色

But we're going to focus on the region labeled red here --

这是个接口

and it's the interface between the dynamic scaffolding

介于动态支架和染色体之间

and the chromosomes.

It is obviously central to the movement of the chromosomes.

很显然，它是染色体运动的中枢

We have no idea, really, as to how it's achieving that movement.

我们也搞不懂它到底是怎么运动的

我们一直在研究一种叫动力球的东西

We've been studying this thing they call the kinetochore

认真研究了上百年，

for over a hundred years with intense study,

我们发现它仍处在初级阶段

and we're still just beginning to discover what it's about.

它由大约200种不同的蛋白质组成，

It is made up of about 200 different types of proteins,

总共有上千种蛋白质

thousands of proteins in total.

It is a signal broadcasting system.

它是一个信号传播系统

It broadcasts through chemical signals,

它通过化学信号传播

告诉其它的细胞它准备好了，

telling the rest of the cell when it's ready,

when it feels that everything is aligned and ready to go

当它觉得事情都准备好了

for the separation of the chromosomes.

为了染色体的分裂

It is able to couple onto the growing and shrinking microtubules.

它能够把成长的和缩小的微管连接起来

它也参与微管的成长，

It's involved with the growing of the microtubules,

它能暂时连接它们

and it's able to transiently couple onto them.

它也是个能感觉注意力的系统

It's also an attention-sensing system.

它能感觉到什么时候细胞准备好了，

It's able to feel when the cell is ready,

什么时候染色体位置正确

when the chromosome is correctly positioned.

这里变成绿色

It's turning green here because it feels that everything is just right.

因为它感觉样样都对

你会看到，这里有一点点

And you'll see, there's this one little last bit

还是红色

that's still remaining red.

它在微管下面走开了

And it's walked away down the microtubules.

这是信号传播系统发出停止的信号

That is the signal broadcasting system sending out the stop signal.

它走开了，我的意思是，它是机械的

And it's walked away -- I mean, it's that mechanical.

分子式钟表装置

It's molecular clockwork.

This is how you work at the molecular scale.

这就是在分子比例层的工作

So with a little bit of molecular eye candy,

有点分子式的华而不实，

(Laughter)

我们还有驱动蛋白，是这些橙色的

we've got kinesins, the orange ones.

They're little molecular courier molecules walking one way.

它们是分子的信差，单向行走

这里是动力蛋白。它们携带者传播系统

And here are the dynein, they're carrying that broadcasting system.

它们有长长的腿，能跨越障碍物

And they've got their long legs

so they can step around obstacles and so on.

同样地，从科学的角度来说

So again, this is all derived accurately from the science.

所有这些都很精确

问题是我们不能用别的方法展示给你们看

The problem is we can't show it to you any other way.

Exploring at the frontier of science, at the frontier of human understanding,

用人类的领悟力的前沿，

来探索科学的前沿，

太令人兴奋了

is mind-blowing.

Discovering this stuff

去发现这些东西

is certainly a pleasurable incentive to work in science.

确实是在科学领域工作的令人愉快的奖励

但，大多数的医学研究者们，

But most medical researchers --

discovering the stuff is simply steps along the path to the big goals,

发现这种东西

只是通往远大目标的简单步骤，

which are to eradicate disease, to eliminate the suffering

那就是根除疾病，

减少疾病造成的痛苦和不幸

and the misery that disease causes

带人脱离贫困

and to lift people out of poverty.

谢谢！

Thank you.

(Applause)

（掌声）