Christina Warinner: Tracking ancient diseases using ... plaque

譯者: Joyce Chou 審譯者: Ching Sze

Have you ever wondered

各位是否想過，

what is inside your dental plaque?

在各位的牙菌斑裡藏著什麼?

Probably not, but people like me do.

可能沒有，但像我一樣的人會想這個問題。

I'm an archeological geneticist

我是一位考古學遺傳學家。

at the Center for Evolutionary Medicine

我任職於蘇黎世大學的

at the University of Zurich,

醫藥發展中心

and I study the origins and evolution of human health and disease

我針對古人類骨骼和木乃伊遺骸

by conducting genetic research

進行基因研究

on the skeletal and mummified remains of ancient humans.

了解人類健康和疾病的起源和演化

And through this work, I hope to better understand

透過此研究，我希望能更加了解

the evolutionary vulnerabilities of our bodies,

我們的身體在進化上缺陷

so that we can improve

我們也得以改善

and better manage our health in the future.

並在未來管理我們的健康狀況。

There are different ways to approach evolutionary medicine,

要改進研發醫藥有各種不同的方法

and one way is to extract human DNA

其中一種就是從骨骼化石中

from ancient bones.

提取人類的DNA

And from these extracts,

從這些提取出的DNA

we can reconstruct the human genome at different points in time

我們可以重建不同時期的人類的基因組

and look for changes that might be related to adaptations,

並尋找可能因適應而產生的變化

risk factors and inherited diseases.

風險因素和遺傳疾病。

But this is only one half of the story.

但這只是故事的其中一部份。

The most important health challenges today

今天對於健康最大的挑戰

are not caused by simple mutations in our genome,

並非我們基因組裡產生的簡單基因突變，

but rather result from a complex and dynamic interplay

而是遺傳變異，飲食，

between genetic variation,

微生物，寄生蟲

diet, microbes and parasites

和我們的免疫系統之間

and our immune response.

所造成複雜的和動態的相互作用。

All of these diseases

這所有的疾病

have a strong evolutionary component

有很強的進化因子。

that directly relates to the fact

這直接和一個事實有關，

that we live today in a very different environment

就是我們生活在一個和我們身體相比，

than the ones in which our bodies evolved.

是一個更加不同的環境中。

And in order to understand these diseases,

為了要了解這些疾病，

we need to move past studies of the human genome alone

我們需要將過去研究人類基因組，

and towards a more holistic approach

改為更加全方位的去研究

to human health in the past.

過去的人類健康情況。

But there are a lot of challenges for this.

但這是相當大的挑戰

And first of all, what do we even study?

首先，我們要研究什麼？

Skeletons are ubiquitous; they're found all over the place.

骨頭無所不在，到處都能發現。

But of course, all of the soft tissue has decomposed,

當然，所有的軟組織都被分解掉了；

and the skeleton itself

而骨頭本身，

has limited health information.

健康的資訊有限。

Mummies are a great source of information,

木乃伊是很好的資料來源，

except that they're really geographically limited

但他們有地域限制，

and limited in time as well.

和時間上的限制。

Coprolites are fossilized human feces,

糞化石是人類糞便化石，

and they're actually extremely interesting.

它們實際上是非常有趣。

You can learn a lot about ancient diet and intestinal disease,

你可以從中學到很多關於古代飲食和腸道疾病，

but they are very rare.

但他們非常罕見。

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

So to address this problem,

為了解決此問題，

I put together a team of international researchers

我組了一個國際團隊。

in Switzerland, Denmark and the U.K.

有來自瑞士、丹麥和英國的研究員，

to study a very poorly studied, little known material

研究幾乎沒人研究，也鮮為人知的物質。

that's found on people everywhere.

此物質能在任何人身上找到

It's a type of fossilized dental plaque

那是牙菌斑化石，

that is called officially dental calculus.

正常也被稱為牙結石。

Many of you may know it by the term tartar.

很多人可能都知道那是長期牙垢。

It's what the dentist cleans off your teeth

那也是各位每次去看牙醫，

every time that you go in for a visit.

牙醫會幫各位清洗掉的東西。

And in a typical dentistry visit,

在典型的牙醫診斷中，

you may have about 15 to 30 milligrams removed.

你可能有大約15至30毫克的牙結石會被清理掉。

But in ancient times before tooth brushing,

但在古代有刷牙習慣之前，

up to 600 milligrams might have built up on the teeth

一個人一輩子，大約有高達600毫克的牙結石

over a lifetime.

可能會附著在牙齒上。

And what's really important about dental calculus

而牙結石的重要性

is that it fossilizes just like the rest of the skeleton,

在於它就像留下來的骨架化石的其餘部分。

it's abundant in quantity before the present day

它是目前數量上最豐富的，

and it's ubiquitous worldwide.

而且無所不在。

We find it in every population around the world at all time periods

我們能在數萬年前的每一個時期

going back tens of thousands of years.

世界各地各種族群的人身上找到。

And we even find it in neanderthals and animals.

我們甚至也在尼安德特人與動物身上找到。

And so previous studies

先前的研究，

had only focused on microscopy.

只聚焦顯微鏡下的事物。

They'd looked at dental calculus under a microscope,

研究員透過顯微鏡觀看牙結石，

and what they had found was things like pollen

他們發現了類似花粉的東西

and plant starches,

和植物澱粉；

and they'd found muscle cells from animal meats

他們也發現動物肉類中的肌肉細胞，

and bacteria.

還有細菌。

And so what my team of researchers, what we wanted to do,

所以我的研究團隊想做的事，

is say, can we apply

是我們能否運用

genetic and proteomic technology

基因和蛋白質技術

to go after DNA and proteins,

追蹤DNA和蛋白質，

and from this can we get better taxonomic resolution

從結果中得出更好的分類方法，

to really understand what's going on?

進而了解其中奧妙。

And what we found

我們得到的結果是

is that we can find many commensal and pathogenic bacteria

找到許多共生和致病的細菌

that inhabited the nasal passages and mouth.

生活在鼻腔和口腔裡。

We also have found immune proteins

我們還發現

related to infection and inflammation

和感染及發炎症狀有關的免疫蛋白，

and proteins and DNA related to diet.

還有與飲食有關的蛋白質和DNA。

But what was surprising to us, and also quite exciting,

但令我們驚訝還有相當興奮的是

is we also found bacteria

我們發現了

that normally inhabit upper respiratory systems.

細菌通常生活在上呼吸道系統。

So it gives us virtual access to the lungs,

因此，這給了我們到肺部的模擬路徑，

which is where many important diseases reside.

這是許多重要疾病的病源。

And we also found bacteria

我們也發現了

that normally inhabit the gut.

細菌通常生活在腸道。

And so we can also now virtually gain access

所以我們幾乎也可以了解

to this even more distant organ system

這更遙遠的器官系統。

that, from the skeleton alone,

這和骨骼相比，

has long decomposed.

是早已分解的部分。

And so by applying ancient DNA sequencing

利用古代DNA測序

and protein mass spectrometry technologies

和蛋白質質譜技術，

to ancient dental calculus,

應用在研究古老的牙結石，

we can generate immense quantities of data

我們可以得到大量的數據。

that then we can use to begin to reconstruct a detailed picture

然後我們就可以開始重建出

of the dynamic interplay

數千年前

between diet, infection and immunity

飲食，感染和免疫

thousands of years ago.

動態相互作用的詳細的圖片。

So what started out as an idea,

而我們最初由概念，

is now being implemented

到現在可以實行這概念，

to churn out millions of sequences

得到很多的結論，

that we can use to investigate

我們可以用來探討

the long-term evolutionary history of human health and disease,

在長期的進化的過程中人類的健康和疾病，

right down to the genetic code of individual pathogens.

數百萬的個別病原體的遺傳序列代碼。

And from this information

從此份資料中，

we can learn about how pathogens evolve

我們可以了解致病菌的進化方式，

and also why they continue to make us sick.

還有了解為何致病菌能持續讓我們生病。

And I hope I have convinced you

另外我也希望可以說服各位

of the value of dental calculus.

關於牙結石的重要性。

And as a final parting thought,

最後在此

on behalf of future archeologists,

我代表對未來的考古學家，

I would like to ask you to please think twice

和各位說在各位回家刷牙前

before you go home and brush your teeth.

請先三思。

(Applause)

(掌聲)

Thank you.

謝謝各位。

(Applause)

(掌聲)