蟑螂奶未來或成為超級食品
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,一個國際科學家團隊確定了蟑螂中腸內的蛋白質晶體的結構序列.為什么要研究這個？
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.
因為它的營養價值是牛奶的四倍多.研究人員認為在人口不斷增長的將來,蟑螂奶可以成為人類的重要食物.
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.
盡管大多數蟑螂自身并不產奶,但有一種斑點折翅類蟑螂,是目前已知的唯一一種胎生蟑螂,它會分泌出一種含有蛋白質晶體的"奶"來喂養下一代.
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).
昆蟲產奶這一事實本身已十分有趣,但更讓研究者感興趣的是一份蛋白質晶體中所含的能量是相同重量的水牛奶的三倍（所含熱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.
顯然,要像擠牛奶一樣擠蟑螂的"奶"并不是個切實可行的方法,所以這個國際科學家團隊就決定測定控制產生蛋白質晶體的基因序列,嘗試在實驗室內復制這組基因.該團隊的領頭人是印度干細胞生物學和再生醫學研究院的研究人員.
"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.
其中一名隊員桑賈利·班納吉在《印度時報》的采訪中說道："這些晶體就像完整的食物,有蛋白質、脂肪還有糖分.如果你仔細研究蛋白質序列,還會發現它們含有一切必不可少的氨基酸."
