Newsy2011.3.20---生命的新領域

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Newsy2011.3.20---生命的新領域
New Domain of Life, New Domain of Scientists?
You're watching multisource science news analysis from Newsy
How do you divide life? Currently, scientists’ picture of the tree of life has three domains, or branches: eukarya (including plants and animals), bacteria, and archaea. But new genetics research might cause that picture to be redrawn. New Scientist explains.
“Jonathan Eisen at the University of California, Davis, Genome Center has identified gene sequences ... that are so unusual they seem to have come from organisms that are only distantly related to cellular life as we know it. So distantly related, in fact, that they may belong to an organism that sits in an entirely new domain.”
The research used data from the Global Ocean Sampling project. Scientists used a specially fitted yacht, owned by famous geneticist Craig Venter, to collect seawater from around the world. Then they sequenced all DNA in the sample in one giant batch that Eisen scoured for novel versions of genes.
His finds were surprising. Not only were there two unknown groups, shown here, but one of those groups seemed completely unrelated to the rest of the tree of life. Eisen thinks this might represent a fourth domain of life. (Image sources: PLoS One, Discover Magazine)
It’s hard to learn much about this new life at this stage, because the data came from studying raw genes, not actual organisms. But a writer for Discover Magazine explains how the research will progress.
“...the first order of business will be to find more of these exotic genes to see if they continue to fall into a distinct domain of their own. If they do, scientists will need to track down the actual organisms that carry them. Are they viruses, or are they true cells? That discovery might show how this possible fourth domain got its start.”
While the science is interesting, it’s also worth pointing out how the findings are being shown to the public. The paper was published in PLoS One, an open access journal. Eisen himself is an open access advocate, and uses his own blog, The Tree of Life, to explain his findings. He writes:
“I note -- we are not doing a press release for the paper, for a few reasons. But one of them is that, well, I am starting to hate press releases. ... my key fear here is that somehow in my communications with the press or in our text in the paper or in this post I will overstate our findings. … We do not have a conclusive explanation for the origin of these sequences.”
By skipping the press release and taking responsibility for explaining the paper himself, Eisen is trying to raise the bar on how science is communicated, both to the public and to other scientists. Science blogger P.Z. Myers applauds Eisen on his blog, Pharyngula, and hopes to see more science communication follow suit.
“I say scientists might want to be a little bit nervous about this, because I can imagine a day when this kind of presentation becomes de rigueur for everything you publish... It's a different skill set, too, and it's going to require a different kind of talent to be able to address fellow scientists, the lay public, and science journalists.”
So what’s more exciting? The finding there may be a new branch on the tree of life, or that there may be a shift in how science is communicated? Let your inner geek show in our comments section.
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Transcript by Newsy

生命的新領域，新領域的科學家？
你看多源科技新聞分析Newsy
你如何劃分的生活？目前，科學家的圖片的生命樹有三個領域，或分支：真核生物（包括植物和動物），細菌和古細菌。但是，新的遺傳學研究可能導致該照片重新繪製。新科學家解釋說。
“喬納森艾森在加州大學戴維斯分校，基因組中心已經確定的基因序列...這是如此不同尋常，他們似乎都來自生物體，只有遠親細胞生命，因為我們知道這一點。因此，親緣關係較遠，事實上，他們可能屬於一個有機體，它位於一個全新的領域。“
本研究使用的數據來自全球海洋取樣項目。科學家們使用了一種特別適合遊艇，擁有由著名遺傳學家克雷格文特爾，收集來自世界各地的海水。然後，他們在所有的DNA測序樣本中一個巨大的艾森遍尋一批新版本的基因。
他的發現令人吃驚。不但有兩名身份不明的團體，在這裡顯示，但其中的一個群體似乎完全無關，其餘的生命樹。艾森認為，這可能代表四分之一域的生活。 （圖片來源：公共科學圖書館之一，發現雜誌）
很難了解更多關於這個新的生命在這個階段，因為這些數據來自於研究原始基因，而不是實際的生物體。但是，一個作家的探索雜誌介紹了如何將研究的進展。
“...一階業務將找到更多這些外源基因，看看他們是否繼續陷入自己獨特的領域。如果是這樣，科學家們將需要跟踪的實際攜帶這些微生物。他們是病毒，或者他們真的細胞？這一發現可能會顯示如何可能的第四個領域得到了它的開始。“
雖然科學是有趣的，這也是值得指出的結果如何正在向公眾展出。該論文發表在PLoS之一的，開放存取期刊。艾森自己是一個開放的訪問倡導者，並用自己的博客，生命之樹，來解釋他的發現。他寫道：
“我注意到 - 我們不是做了一份新聞稿，紙，有幾個原因。但其中之一是，嗯，我開始恨新聞稿。 ...這裡是我的主要擔心，不知怎的，我的通訊與媒體，在我們的文本中，在紙張或在這個後我會誇大我們的發現。 ...我們還沒有確鑿的起源的解釋，這些序列。“
通過跳過新聞稿及承擔責任的文件解釋自己，艾森正在努力提高標準的科學是如何溝通，同時向公眾和其他科學家。科學博客P.Z.邁爾斯在他的博客艾森稱讚，Pharyngula，並希望看到更多的科學傳播效仿。
“我說想成為科學家可能有點緊張這一點，因為我可以想像有一天，當這種表現成為社交禮節您發布的一切...這是一個不同的技能，也和這將需要一個不同類型的人才，能夠解決同科學家，普通公眾和科學記者。“
那麼什麼是更精彩？這一發現有可能是一個新的分支上的生命樹，或者說有可能會轉變科學是如何溝通？讓您的潛能顯現在我們的評論部分。
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