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Scientists have unravelled one of the secrets of a plant used in traditional Chinese medicine.
科学家解开了传统中药中一种植物的奥秘.
The Chinese skullcap - known as Huang-Qin - is traditionally used for fever, liver and lung problems.
中国黄芩传统上用于治疗发烧,肝病和肺病.
Scientists have discovered that the plant uses a special pathway to make chemicals with potential cancer-fighting properties. They say it is a step towards being able to scale up production to make new drugs.
科学家发现,这种植物用特殊途径合成具有抗癌潜力的化学物质. 科学家表示, 这朝着规模化生产新药迈进了一步.
Prof Cathie Martin, of the John Innes Centre in Norwich, is lead researcher of the study, published in Science Advances. Working in collaboration with Chinese scientists, her team deduced how the plant, Scutellaria baicalensi, synthesises the chemicals, known as flavones.
诺维奇约翰英纳斯中心的凯茜.马丁教授, 是这项研究的首席研究员, 该研究发表在《科学进展》上. 她的团队与中国科学家合作, 推断出黄芩是如何合成黄酮这种化学物质的.
Flavones are found widely in the plant kingdom, giving some plants vivid blue flowers.
黄酮广泛见于植物王国, 让一些植物开出鲜艳的蓝花.
Understanding the pathway should help us to produce these special flavones in large quantities, which will enable further research into their potential medicinal uses, said Prof Martin.
“理解黄酮的生成途径, 有助于我们大量生产这些特殊物质, 有利于进一步探索它们潜在的药用价值.”
Previous lab research suggests that flavones have anti-cancer properties, offering hope that they may one day lead to effective cancer treatments.
之前的实验室研究表明,黄酮具有抗癌特性, 为有朝一日或可用于有效的癌症治疗提供了希望.
Commenting on the study, Dr Alan Worsley of Cancer Research UK, said: "This paper answers a very interesting biological question about how these plants are able to make particular molecules, but the study doesn't look at whether the molecules can be used to treat cancer.
英国癌症研究中心的沃斯利博士对该研究评论说: “这篇论文回答了这些植物如何能够合成特定分子这个非常有趣的生物学问题, 但研究并没有探讨特定分子能否用于治疗癌症.”
This herb is a member of the mint family and native to China. In traditional Chinese medicine, the root was used in combination with other plants to treat fever and other ailments.
黄酮属于薄荷科,是中国本土植物. 传统中药中,这种根茎类植物和其它植物结合使用,治疗发烧和其它病痛.
There is increasing scientific interest in ancient medicinal plants. In 2015, Tu Youyou was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for her work on artemisinin, an antimalarial drug derived from the sweet wormwood plant, Artemisia annua.
对古老药用植物的科学兴趣正在与日俱增. 2015年, 屠呦呦因其在青蒿素方面的工作被授予诺贝尔医学奖. 青嵩素是从青嵩中提取的抗疟药.
