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Very recently scientists discovered that your body is teeming with trillions of the most bizarre viruses –
最近，科学家发现，你的身体里充斥着数以万亿计最奇异的病毒——
these viruses are not your enemies but critical to your health, protecting you from disease, maybe even killing cancer.
这些病毒不是你的敌人，而是对你的健康至关重要，保护你免受疾病侵害，甚至可能杀死癌症。
A new frontier of sci ence, something truly new that we are only just beginning to understand. Let us dive into the wild world of the human virome.
这是科学的一个新领域，一个我们才刚刚开始了解的真正新事物。让我们深入人类病毒组的狂野世界。
You are an Ecosystem. You're a living, breathing ecosystem made of up to 40 trillion cells.
你是一个生态系统。你是一个由多达40万亿个细胞组成的活生生的生态系统。
This metropolis of flesh is home to the human microbiome, another 40 trillion bacteria that have a contract with your body: They get to live here and in return they break down your meals.
这个肉体大都市是人类微生物组的家园，另外40万亿个细菌与你的身体有契约：它们可以在这里生活，作为回报，它们会分解你的食物。
They synthesise vitamins in your gut, neutralise acid in your mouth, help balance your immune system, and they take up space preventing harmful bacteria from getting in.
它们在你的肠道中合成维生素，中和口腔中的酸，帮助平衡你的免疫系统，它们占据空间防止有害细菌进入。
This is a fragile balance – bacteria really only look out for themselves, multiplying and testing their boundaries.
这是一种脆弱的平衡——细菌实际上只会照顾自己，繁殖并测试它们的界限。
To keep their numbers in check, your body's ecosystem needs a group of deadly predators: Viruses. At least ten trillion.
为了控制它们的数量，你体内的生态系统需要一群致命的捕食者：病毒。至少有十万亿。
They're literally everywhere in your body, tens of thousands of different species.
它们几乎遍布你身体的每一个角落，有成千上万种不同的细菌。
At least a few trillion live in your gut, where also most of your resident bacteria are.
至少有几万亿生活在你的肠道中，大多数常驻细菌也都生活在那里。
At least 18 billion on your skin, 100 million in each drop of your saliva, dozens of millions in your urinary tract.
你的皮肤上至少有180亿个，你每一滴唾液中有1亿个，你的尿道中有数千万个。
Even in a single drop of the cerebrospinal fluid surrounding your nerves and brain, researchers found up to 10,000 viruses.
即使在你神经和大脑周围的一滴脑脊液中，研究人员也发现了多达10000种病毒。
While this sounds like a horrible idea at first, at least in the gut, around 97% of them are bacteriophages, or phages,
虽然这听起来像是一个可怕的想法，但至少在肠道中，其中约97%是噬菌体，
bizarre creatures that are specialised in hunting down and killing resident bacteria and are not able to infect your cells.
这是一种奇怪的生物，专门追捕和杀死常驻细菌，但无法感染你的细胞。
Instead they kill trillions of bacteria every single day. Together these viruses make up the human virome – a symbiotic virus ecosystem that is completely unique to you and that seems to be crucial for your health.
相反，它们每天杀死数万亿的细菌。这些病毒共同构成了人类病毒组——一个完全独特的共生病毒生态系统，似乎对你的健康至关重要。
Let's get to know them and see how they support you – and what happens if things go wrong.
让我们了解它们，看看它们是如何支持你的——以及如果事情出错会发生什么。
The Silent Mass Murderers of Your Body. Inside your gut, a stealthy Lambda Phage floats through the buzzing crowds of bacteria, looking for a victim.
你体内的沉默大规模杀手。在你的肠道内，一个隐秘的Lambda噬菌体漂浮在嗡嗡作响的细菌群中，寻找受害者。
It has six legs, a long thin body and a big head, made of geometric shapes, filled with genetic material.
它有六条腿，身体细长，头部很大，由几何形状组成，充满了遗传物质。
Each species is specialized in hunting one specific species of bacteria and ignores all others. Lambda is looking for Escherichia coli.
每个物种都专门捕食一种特定的细菌，而忽略所有其他细菌。Lambda正在寻找大肠杆菌。
This versatile bacteria is numerous in your gut, usually a good boy synthesising vitamins for you.
这种多才多艺的细菌在你的肠道中数量众多，通常是为你合成维生素的好孩子。
But it also has a dark side – some of them would much rather live inside your flesh and feast on your resources.
但它也有阴暗的一面——其中一些更愿意生活在你的肉体中，吞噬你的资源。
If there are too many or if they manage to invade your tissue, they can cause serious diseases.
如果数量过多或设法侵入你的组织，它们会导致严重的疾病。
So one of the most important jobs of the virome is to control the numbers of different bacteria populations by killing them.
因此，病毒组最重要的工作之一是通过杀死它们控制不同细菌种群的数量。
By killing them. Lambda has found a victim. Spider-like legs get a hold of a bacteria and grip it hard.
Lambda找到了一个受害者。蜘蛛状的腿紧紧抓住细菌。
Like an angry syringe, it violently rams its sharp bottom into the victim's body and releases its DNA.
它就像一个愤怒的注射器，猛烈地将尖锐的底部撞入受害者体内，释放出DNA。
And once inside, the proteins disable the defenses of the bacterium. It is now a factory under new management.
一旦进入体内，蛋白质就会使细菌的防御能力失效。现在，它成了新管理下的工厂。
It is forced to build new viruses until the victim is filled up and bursts open, releasing a horde of fresh Lambda viruses. But its goal is not genocide.
它被迫制造新的病毒，直到受害者被填满并爆裂，释放出一大群新鲜的Lambda病毒。但它的目标不是种族灭绝。
Phages need a healthy population of bacteria to survive. So sometimes they choose a way more sinister tactic.
噬菌体需要健康的细菌种群才能生存。所以有时他们会选择一种更险恶的策略。
Instead of killing their victim, the virus integrates its DNA into the genome of the bacteria and goes to sleep.
病毒不会杀死受害者，而是将其DNA整合到细菌的基因组中，然后进入休眠状态。
When the bacteria multiplies, the virus DNA is multiplied too. Until one day the viral DNA re-awakens and suddenly decides to kill its unsuspecting victim.
当细菌繁殖时，病毒DNA也会繁殖。直到有一天，病毒DNA重新苏醒，突然决定杀死毫无戒心的受害者。
And here things become exciting – your virome also needs you to thrive. It's in its best interest that you are healthy.
事情变得令人兴奋——你的病毒组也需要你茁壮成长。你健康对它最有利。
So some viruses inject genes into bacteria that actively make them support your body.
因此，有些病毒会将基因注入细菌，使它们积极地支持你的身体。
Some force their bacteria hosts to support your gut's mucus layer, break down complex carbohydrates from your food more efficiently, creating substances that protect against inflammation. And they alter what signals bacteria send to your immune cells.
有些病毒迫使它们的细菌宿主支持你的肠道粘液层，更有效地分解食物中的复合碳水化合物，生成产生防止炎症的物质。它们还会改变细菌向免疫细胞发出的信号。
Basically they're letting them know: We have things under control, you can chill out.
基本上，病毒是在让细菌知道：我们已经控制住了一切，你可以放松一下了。
This may prevent allergic reactions or even protect you against autoimmune diseases.
这可能会预防过敏反应，甚至保护你免受自身免疫性疾病的侵害。
But of course, there is also a dark side to this story. Some viruses don't care about our health. Instead of helping they turn harmless bacteria into deadly monsters.
但当然，这个故事也有阴暗的一面。有些病毒并不关心我们的健康。它们不帮助我们，而是把无害的细菌变成致命的怪物。
When viruses turn bacteria into killers, some species of bacteriophage carry dangerous genes for toxic substances.
当病毒把细菌变成杀手时，有些噬菌体携带有毒物质的危险基因。
When they take over their hosts, they can integrate into the genetic code of the bacteria where they lay as a deadly gift.
当它们接管宿主时，它们可以整合到细菌的遗传密码中，作为致命的礼物。
