根據英國獨立報的報道，英國科學家在人造染色體方面獲突破，這可能徹底導致藥物變革，以下英文爲英國獨立報的報道，中文爲自行翻譯，歡迎閱讀與轉發！

人造染色體方面獲突破，可能變革藥物

Scientists have created genetically-engineered mice with artificial human chromosomes in every cell of their bodies, as part of a series of studies showing that it may be possible to treat genetic diseases with a radically new form of gene therapy.

科學家已製造出基因工程鼠，這些鼠的體內的所有細胞均使用了人造人類染色體，作爲一系列研究的一部分，該研究顯示：使用徹底的基因治療方式來治療遺傳疾病是可能的。

In one of the unpublished studies, researchers made a human artificial chromosome in the laboratory from chemical building blocks rather than chipping away at an existing human chromosome, indicating the increasingly powerful technology behind the new field of synthetic biology.

在一份未發表的研究中，研究人員在實驗室通過基礎化學切塊，而非在一組存在的人類染色體中進行分解（的方式）製造出了人工人類染色體，顯示出在新領域的合成生物學上技術的日益強大。

The development comes as the Government announces today that it will invest tens of millions of pounds in synthetic biology research in Britain, including an international project to construct all the 16 individual chromosomes of the yeast fungus in order to produce the first synthetic organism with a complex genome.

英國政府今日宣佈將在合成生物學研究上投資上千萬英鎊（相關新聞上說是2000萬英鎊），就包括一項構建16個真菌個體染色體的國際性項目，該項目的目的是使用複雜的基因組製造第一個合成有機體。

A synthetic yeast with man-made chromosomes could eventually be used as a platform for making new kinds of biological materials, such as antibiotics or vaccines, while human artificial chromosomes could be used to introduce healthy copies of genes into the diseased organs or tissues of people with genetic illnesses, scientists said.

科學家說，合成菌和人造染色體可能最終會被用作製造新的生物材料的平臺，比如抗生素或者疫苗。與此同時，人造人類染色體可能會被用以將健康的基因引進到患病的器官，或者人類遺傳疾病的組織中。

Researchers involved in the synthetic yeast project emphasized a briefing in London earlier this week that there are no plans to build human chromosomes and create synthetic human cells in the same way as the artificial yeast project. A project to build human artificial chromosomes is unlikely to win ethical approval in the UK, they said.

本週早些時候，參與合成菌羨慕的研究人員在一份簡報中強調“關於人造酵母菌項目，還沒有用同樣的方式構建人類染色體和合成人類細胞的計劃”，他們稱，在英國，構建人類人造染色體的項目是不大可能在倫理上獲得通過的。

However, researchers in the US and Japan are already well advanced in making “mini” human chromosomes called HACs (human artificial chromosomes), by either paring down an existing human chromosome or making them “de novo” in the lab from smaller chemical building blocks.

然而，在美國和日本的研究人員已經在製造“迷你”人類染色體（稱作HACs,即人類合成染色體）方面取得不錯的進展，既沒有減少已經存在的人類染色體，也沒有使得它們從微小的化學基塊（的方式）在實驗室得以“新生”。

Natalay Kouprina of the US National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, is part of the team that has successfully produced genetically engineered mice with an extra human artificial chromosome in their cells. It is the first time such an advanced form of a synthetic human chromosome made “from scratch” has been shown to work in an animal model, Dr. Kouprina said.

美國馬里蘭州貝塞斯達的美國國家癌症研究所的NatalayKouprina博士是研究團隊的一員，該團隊已經成功地用製造出基因工程鼠，基因工程鼠的細胞之內使用了額外的合成人類染色體。Kouprina博士稱，這是如此先進的模式“從零開始”地合成人類染色體已經在動物模型上得以顯示。

“The purpose of developing the human artificial chromosome project is to create a shuttle vector for gene delivery into human cells to study gene function in human cells,” she told The Independent.“Potentially it has applications for gene therapy, for correction of gene deficiency in humans. It is known that there are lots of hereditary diseases due to the mutation of certain genes.”

Kouprina博士告訴獨立報，“開發人類合成染色體項目的目的是創造一種爲基因傳輸到人體細胞創造一個穿梭載體，以便研究基因在人體細胞中的作用。它可能應用於基因治療，對人類基因缺陷進行修正。衆所周知，許多遺傳性的疾病就是由於一定的基因突變所導致的。”

Synthetic biology is loosely defined as designing new kinds of life-forms or making new genetic arrangements that do not exist in nature, which could provide practical benefits to society, notably in medicine, manufacturing or environmental monitoring.

合成生物學被輕易的定義爲設計出新的物種，或者對在實際上並不存在的基因進行新的排列，這可爲社會提供實際的利益，特別是在醫藥，製造業和環境監測方面。

At a speech to the Royal Society last November, the Chancellor George Osborne identified synthetic biology as one of eight areas of scientific development that the Government wants British scientists to focus on in the coming years.

去年11月，在英國皇家學會的演講上，英國財政大臣喬治-奧斯本認同合成生物是英國政府想要科學家來年關注的科學發展的8大領域之一。

David Willetts, the minister responsible for universities, will tell an international meeting on synthetic biology at Imperial College London today that the Government will spend more than ￡60m on synthetic biology, including ￡10m on a new innovation centre to translate academic research into industrial processes and products, and ￡1m on the international synthetic yeast project.

英國大學與科學大臣大衛- 威利茨將於今天在帝國理工學院召開的一場關於合成生物學的國際會議上宣佈英國政府將在合成生物學上投入6千萬英鎊，這包括，用以將學術研究轉化到工業工序和產品中的新的創新中心，另外，會在國際性的合成菌項目上花費100萬英鎊。

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