注：这可能是早期披露医疗床背后的技术将如何运作。
(Sarah Knapton) Humans may one day have the ability to regrow limbs after scientists at Harvard University uncovered the DNA switch that controls genes for whole-body regeneration.
（莎拉·卡纳顿）哈佛大学的科学家发现了控制全身再生基因的 DNA 开关后，人类可能有一天能够再生肢体。
Source – Yahoo News
资料来源-雅虎新闻
Some animals can achieve extraordinary feats of repair, such as salamanders which grow back legs, or geckos which can shed their tails to escape predators and then form new ones in just two months.
有些动物可以达到非凡的修复功能，比如蝾螈可以重新长出腿，壁虎可以摆脱尾巴逃离捕食者，然后在短短两个月内形成新的尾巴。
Planarian worms, jellyfish, and sea anemones go even further, actually regenerating their entire bodies after being cut in half.
涡虫类的蠕虫、水母和海葵甚至走得更远，实际上在被切成两半之后，它们的整个身体都在再生。
Now scientists have discovered that that in worms, a section of non-coding or 'junk' DNA controls the activation of a 'master control gene' called early growth response (EGR) which acts like a power switch, turning regeneration on or off.
现在，科学家们发现，在蠕虫体内，一段非编码或"垃圾"DNA 控制着一种称为"早期生长反应"(early growth response，EGR)的"主控基因"的激活，这种基因就像一个电源开关，控制着再生的开启或关闭。
"We were able to decrease the activity of this gene and we found that if you don't have EGR, nothing happens," said Dr Mansi Srivastava, Assistant Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University.
哈佛大学有机体与进化生物学助理教授曼斯·斯里瓦斯塔瓦博士说:"我们能够降低这种基因的活性，我们发现，如果你没有 EGR，什么也不会发生。"
水母具有非凡的再生能力
"The animals just can't regenerate. All those downstream genes won't turn on, so the other switches don't work, and the whole house goes dark, basically."
"动物就是不能再生。所有这些下游基因都无法启动，所以其他开关也无法工作，整个房子基本上就会陷入黑暗。"
The studies were done in three-banded panther worms. Scientists found that during regeneration the tightly-packed DNA in their cells, starts to unfold, allowing new areas to activate.
这些研究是在三条黑豹蠕虫身上进行的。科学家发现，在再生过程中，细胞中紧密排列的DNA开始展开，允许新的区域被激活。
But crucially humans also carry EGR, and produce it when cells are stressed and in need of repair, yet it does not seem to trigger large scale regeneration.
但至关重要的是，人类也携带EGR，并在细胞受到压力和需要修复时产生EGR，但它似乎并不能触发大规模的再生。
Scientists now think that it master gene is wired differently in humans to animals and are now trying to find a way to tweak its circuitry to reap its regenerative benefits.
科学家们现在认为，它的主基因在人类和动物之间的连接是不同的，现在正试图找到一种方法来调整它的电路，以获得再生的好处。
Post doctoral student Andrew Gehrke of Harvard believes the answer lies in the area of non-coding DNA controlling the gene. Non-coding or junk DNA was once believed to do nothing, but in recent years scientists have realised is having a major impact.
哈佛大学后教授的博士生 Andrew Gehrke 认为答案在于控制基因的非编码 DNA 区域。非编码或垃圾 DNA 曾经被认为什么也做不了，但是近年来科学家已经意识到正在产生重大影响。
"Only about two percent of the genome makes things like proteins," added Mr Gehrke said. "We wanted to know: What is the other 98 percent of the genome doing during whole-body regeneration?
"只有大约百分之二的基因组产生蛋白质之类的东西,"格尔克先生补充说。"我们想知道: 在整个身体再生过程中，其他98%的基因组在做什么？
"I think we've only just scratched the surface. We've looked at some of these switches, but there's a whole other aspect of how the genome is interacting on a larger scale, and all of that is important for turning genes on and off."
"我认为我们只是触及了表面。我们已经研究了其中的一些开关，但是基因组如何在更大的范围内相互作用还有另外一个方面，所有这些对于开启和关闭基因都很重要。"
Marine animals, such as the moon jellyfish, are masters of regeneration and some have been found to clone themselves after death.
海洋动物，比如月亮水母，是再生的大师，有些已经被发现在死后进行克隆。
In 2016, a Japanese scientist reported that three months after the death of his pet jellyfish, a sea anemone-like polyp rose out of the degraded body, and then astonishingly aged backwards, reverting to a younger state.
2016年，一位日本科学家报告说，他的宠物水母死后三个月，一种类似海葵的息肉从退化的身体中长出来，然后惊人地衰老，恢复到更年轻的状态。
In the 1990s, scientists in Italy discovered that the Turritopsis dohrnii jellyfish switches back and forth from being a baby to an adult, resulting in its nickname, the immortal jellyfish.
在20世纪90年代，意大利的科学家们发现了一种叫做灯塔水母的水母，它从一个婴儿变成了一个成年人。
Dr Srivastava added: "The question is: If humans can turn on EGR, and not only turn it on, but do it when our cells are injured, why can't we regenerate?" added Dr Srivastava.
斯利瓦斯塔瓦博士补充说:"问题是: 如果人类可以启动 EGR，不仅可以启动它，而且可以在细胞受伤时启动，为什么我们不能再生呢?" 斯利瓦斯塔瓦博士补充道。
"It's a very natural question to look at the natural world and think, if a gecko can do this why can't I?
"观察自然世界并思考，如果壁虎能做到这一点，我为什么不能? 这是一个很自然的问题？
"The answer may be that if EGR is the power switch, we think the wiring is different. What EGR is talking to in human cells may be different than what it is talking to in the three-banded panther worm."
"答案可能是，如果 EGR 是电源开关，我们认为线路是不同的。EGR在人类细胞中所说的可能与在三带黑豹蠕虫中所说的不同。"
The research was published in the journal Science.
这项研究发表在《科学》杂志上。
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