克隆猴子中中和华华的故事
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继世界上首只克隆哺乳动物多利羊之后，中国科学家利用同样的技术克隆出了两只具有相同基因的长尾猕猴。
The feat is a first for nonhuman primates, and despite limitations, it could lead to batches of genetically uniform monkeys for biomedical research.
这是非人类的灵长类动物的首次克隆，尽管还有一些限制，它将来可能会导致多批同样遗传品系的猴子用于生物医学研究。
Previous attempts to clone monkeys through the Dolly method, known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), produced viable embryos but they failed to mature into healthy animals.
以前的通过多利法克隆猴子的尝试产生了成活的胚胎，但没能健康长大到成年，这种技术叫做体细胞核 移植技术（SCNT）。
The technique starts with taking the nucleus of a cell from a tissue like skin, and inserting it into an animal egg that has had its own DNA-carrying nucleus removed.
这种技术先要从组织如皮肤中提取细胞核，然后注射入动物的另一个卵细胞中，这个卵细胞事先已经被取走了携带DNA的细胞核。
That combination is then treated with enzymes that return it to an early embryonic state from which it can differentiate into every cell type in the body, like a just-fertilized egg.
之后这个组合细胞会被加入酶进行处理让它还原到原始胚胎状态，这样它就可以像一个刚受精的卵细胞一样分化出各种类型的细胞来了。
The egg is then implanted in a surrogate mother for development.
这个卵细胞接下来被移植入代孕妈妈体内进行发育。
Success came from adapting several new techniques, says Mu-ming Poo, director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’s Institute of Neuroscience in Shanghai, who led the work.
这次成功离不开几种新技术的采用，蒲慕明说，他是中科院位于是上海的神经研究所所长，也是这次工作的带头人。
These included a new type of microscopy to better view the cells during handling to using several compounds that encourage cell reprogramming, which hadn't been tried before on primates, they report today in Cell.
这包括了一种新型的显微镜能够在操作时更清楚地看到细胞以及促进细胞重新分化的几种新的化合物，这些以前都没有在灵长类动物上使用过，他们的成果发表在了今天的《细胞》杂志上。 Still, the success rate was low: Just two healthy baby macaques born from more than 60 surrogate mothers.
不过，成功率仍然较低：60个代孕妈妈只有两个健康的猕猴宝宝出生。
And the researchers were only able to reprogram cells from fetal monkey tissue, not adult cells.
研究员们目前只能用胚胎猕猴组织而不是成年的细胞来实现细胞重新分化。
The newborns were named Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua, after a Mandarin term for the Chinese nation and people.
新出生的小猴子被取名为中中和华华，在普通话里分别表示中国和人民。
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Poo says the new approach is more customizable and can produce a greater number of genetically identical animals than the first technique used to clone primates, a simpler method called embryo splitting.
蒲教授说这种新方法的可定制化程度更高，跟过去的第一种克隆灵长类的技术相比，能够生产出更多数量的相同基因的动物，之前的方法是更简单的胚胎分裂术。
He adds that combining SCNT with gene editing will allow researchers to create "ideal nonhuman primate models” for studying disease mechanisms and screening drugs.
他补充道将体细胞核移植技术和基因编辑结合可以让研究者们创造出理想的非人类的灵长类动物模型，用于研究疾病机理和筛选药物。
And improving their methods could lead to higher success rates and possibly even the ability to use adult tissues.
他们的技术改良后将可以达到更高的成功率，还可能利用成年的组织也能完成。
"It's a good piece of science," says Alan Trounson, a stem cell scientist at the Hudson Institute for Medical Research in Clayton, Australia.
“这是一门很好的科学，”阿兰.特朗森说，他是澳大利亚克莱顿哈德逊研究所医学研究分部的干细胞科学家。
"[But] I can't see a high desire to use cloned monkeys for research." Trounson notes that monkeys are costly, researchers hesitate to use monkeys if alternatives are available, and drug regulatory agencies "don't demand monkey studies anymore."
“不过我觉得用克隆猴进行研究的需求可能不会高，”特朗森注意到猴子太昂贵了，研究者们在有别的选择的时候可能不会选择猴子，而且药监局“不准用猴子进行研究了。”
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He says one possible use might be to explore how genes and the environment interact in conditions such as Alzheimer's disease in which the influence of nongenetic factors is poorly understood.
他说其中一种可能的运用就是研究基因和环境是如何相互作用的，比如在阿兹海默病的条件下，非基因的因素是如何起作用的我们还不怎么清楚。
Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases "are the first two we are thinking about" for disease research using cloned monkeys, Poo notes.
阿兹海默和帕金森综合征“是两个我们首先考虑用克隆猴来急性研究的”，蒲教授说。
He adds that the monkeys could be used to study any diseases resulting from one or a few genetic mutations, including certain cancers.
他补充道这些猴子可用于任何从单个或几个基因突变造成的疾病，包括一些癌症。
But the group’s first research effort will be more basic: regular imaging of the twins' brains to observe their neurological development.
但这个团队的第一个研究任务要更基础一些：利用这对双胞胎猴子的大脑进行普通成像技术来观测它们的神经系统发展。
Because the pair have identical genes and are living in the same environment, researchers will be able to see whether their brains develop in similar ways or naturally diverge.
因为这对猴子基因相同又住在同一的环境里，研究者们就可以看到它们的大脑是进行同样的发育还是产生自然发散的不同。
The team acknowledges that the work raises ethical questions, especially because—in principle, at least—the technique could be applied to humans.
该团队也承认这些工作会引发伦理学问题，特别是因为—原则上来说，至少是—这些技术可以运用于人类。
"[But] I would think society and the general public and governments will not allow extension of this method from nonhuman primates to humans," Poo says.
“我想社会和普罗大众以及政府不会允许这种非人类灵长类动物的技术延伸到人类身上，”蒲教授说。
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Ethicists are also concerned about the monkeys themselves.
伦理学家们还同时担心猴子们本身。
"At present, it has not been sufficiently demonstrated that there are no alternatives to using macaque monkeys for such research," Peter Dabrock, an ethicist at Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen, Germany, wrote in a statement.
“目前还没法充分证明这种研究只能采用猕猴来进行，”皮特.德布洛克在一份声明中写道，他是德国埃朗根亚历山大大学的伦理学家。
Poo acknowledges that using nonhuman primates for research is more accepted in China than in the West.
蒲教授承认将非人类的灵长类动物用于研究在中国比在西方接受度更高。
But he emphasizes his group is following international guidelines for the treatment and care of their monkeys.
但他强调他们的团队按照了国际看护和治疗标准来对待他们的猴子。
And he agrees that the minimum number of animals should be used.
他也同意说用于研究的猴子数量要越少越好。
But, Poo argues: "Once we demonstrate the cloned monkey's usefulness in curing disease, I hope [Western societies] will gradually change their minds."
最后，蒲教授补充道：“一旦我们证明了克隆猴在治疗疾病方面的作用，我希望西方社会也会渐渐改变他们的成见。”
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