蟑螂奶未来或成为超级食品
Scientists think cockroach milk could be the superfood of the future
An international team of scientists has just sequenced a protein crystal located in the midgut of cockroaches. The reason?
最近,一个国际科学家团队确定了蟑螂中肠内的蛋白质晶体的结构序列.为什么要研究这个？
It's more than four times as nutritious as cow's milk and, the researchers think it could be the key to feeding our growing population in the future.
因为它的营养价值是牛奶的四倍多.研究人员认为在人口不断增长的将来,蟑螂奶可以成为人类的重要食物.
Although most cockroaches don't actually produce milk, Diploptera punctate, which is the only known cockroach to give birth to live young, has been shown to pump out a type of 'milk' containing protein crystals to feed its babies.
尽管大多数蟑螂自身并不产奶,但有一种斑点折翅类蟑螂,是目前已知的唯一一种胎生蟑螂,它会分泌出一种含有蛋白质晶体的"奶"来喂养下一代.
The fact that an insect produces milk is pretty fascinating – but what fascinated researchers is the fact that a single one of these protein crystals contains more than three times the amount of energy found in an equivalent amount of buffalo milk (which is also higher in calories then dairy milk).
昆虫产奶这一事实本身已十分有趣,但更让研究者感兴趣的是一份蛋白质晶体中所含的能量是相同重量的水牛奶的三倍（所含热量也比相同重量的牛奶多）.
Clearly milking a cockroach isn't the most feasible option, so an international team of scientists headed by researchers from the Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine in India decided to sequence the genes responsible for producing the milk protein crystals to see if they could somehow replicate them in the lab.
显然,要像挤牛奶一样挤蟑螂的"奶"并不是个切实可行的方法,所以这个国际科学家团队就决定测定控制产生蛋白质晶体的基因序列,尝试在实验室内复制这组基因.该团队的领头人是印度干细胞生物学和再生医学研究院的研究人员.
"The crystals are like a complete food - they have proteins, fats and sugars. If you look into the protein sequences, they have all the essential amino acids," said Sanchari Banerjee, one of the team, in an interview with the Times of India.
其中一名队员桑贾利·班纳吉在《印度时报》的采访中说道："这些晶体就像完整的食物,有蛋白质、脂肪还有糖分.如果你仔细研究蛋白质序列,还会发现它们含有一切必不可少的氨基酸."
