评论
打印
How a sperm and an egg come together has long been a mystery.
精子和卵子是如何结合在一起的一直是个谜。
Now, new research by scientists in Austria provides interesting insight.
现在，奥地利科学家的一项新研究提供了有趣的见解。
It shows that fertilization works like a lock and key in animals that have a backbone -- from fish to people.
它表明，从鱼类到人类，在有脊椎的动物中，受精就像一把锁和钥匙那样起作用的。
Such animals are called vertebrates.
这样的动物叫做脊椎动物。
“We discovered this mechanism that’s really fundamental across all vertebrates as far as we can tell,” said co-author Andrea Pauli.
“据我们所知，我们发现这种机制在所有脊椎动物中都是非常基本的，”合著者安德里亚·泡利说。
He spoke to the Associated Press from the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna, Austria.
他在奥地利维也纳的分子病理学研究所接受了美联社的采访。
The team found that three proteins in sperm join to form a sort of key that unlocks the egg.
研究小组发现，精子中的三种蛋白质结合在一起，形成了一种打开卵子的钥匙。
The process permits the sperm to attach to the egg.
这个过程允许精子附着在卵子上。
The research findings come from studies in zebrafish, mice, and human cells.
研究结果来自对斑马鱼、老鼠和人类细胞的研究。
They show how this process has continued over millions of years of evolution.
它们展示了这个过程是如何持续了数百万年的进化。
The findings appear in the science magazine, Cell.
研究结果发表在科学杂志《细胞》上。
Scientists already knew about two proteins -- one on the surface of the sperm and another in the tissue of the egg.
科学家们已经知道了两种蛋白质——一种在精子表面，另一种在卵子组织中。
Working with an international team, Pauli’s lab used Google DeepMind’s artificial intelligence tool AlphaFold to help them find and identify a new protein.
泡利的实验室与一个国际团队合作，使用谷歌DeepMind的人工智能工具AlphaFold来帮助他们找到并识别一种新的蛋白质。
The protein permits the first molecular connection between sperm and egg.
这种蛋白质允许精子和卵子之间的第一个分子连接。
The developers of AlphaFold won a Nobel Prize earlier this month.
AlphaFold的开发者本月早些时候获得了诺贝尔奖。
However, what the researchers did not know until now was how the proteins worked together as a team to get the sperm and egg to recognize each other, Pauli said.
然而，泡利说，研究人员直到现在才知道，这些蛋白质是如何协同工作，使精子和卵子相互识别的。
Scientists still do not know how the sperm gets inside the egg after it attaches. They say they hope to explore that next.
科学家们仍然不知道精子在附着在卵子上后是如何进入卵子的。他们说希望接下来能探索一下。
Pauli said such research could help other scientists understand infertility better or develop new birth control methods, also called contraceptives.
泡利说，这样的研究可以帮助其他科学家更好地了解不孕症或开发新的避孕方法，也称为避孕药。
The work provides targets for the development of male contraceptives said David Greenstein in an email to AP.
大卫·格林斯坦在给美联社的一封电子邮件中说，这项工作为开发男性避孕药提供了目标。
Greenstein is a genetics and cell biology expert at the University of Minnesota and was not involved in the study.
Greenstein是明尼苏达大学的遗传学和细胞生物学专家，他没有参与这项研究。
The latest study also highlights the importance of this year’s Nobel Prize in chemistry, he said in the email.
他在电子邮件中说，最新的研究还强调了今年诺贝尔化学奖的重要性。
I’m Anna Matteo.
安娜·马特奥报道。
