两只克隆猴在中国诞生
中国科学家成功克隆出两只猴子，向着成为全球领先科学大国的雄心勃勃的目标迈出最新一步。
The genetically identical long-tailed macaques born in Shanghai last month, called Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua, are the first primate clones produced through the method that made Dolly the sheep in Scotland in 1996. Their names are a play on the phrase Zhonghua, which means Chinese nation or people.
这两只基因相同的长尾猕猴上月诞生于上海，名叫中中和华华，它们是自1996年第一只克隆羊“多利”(Dolly)在苏格兰诞生以来，用同样方法克隆出来的首批灵长类动物。它们的名字寓意“中华”，即中华民族或中国人民。
Although the cloning method, known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), is almost routine in mammals such as sheep, cattle and mice, it has been extremely difficult to replicate in primates. Previous efforts with monkeys often resulted in clones that did not develop properly as embryos or died shortly after birth.
虽然被称为“体细胞核移植”(SCNT)的克隆方法用于羊、牛和鼠等哺乳动物已近乎寻常，但在灵长类动物身上极难应用。以前克隆猴子的尝试往往只能得到无法正常发育的胚胎，或者在出生后很快夭折的动物。
Now that SCNT cloning has been achieved with primates, human cloning is possible, said authors of the study, which is published in the journal Cell.
相关研究报告发表于学术期刊《细胞》(Cell)上，其作者们表示，既然灵长类动物已经实现了体细胞核移植克隆，人类克隆是可能的。
“The technical barrier is now broken. In principle [this method] can be applied to humans,” said Mu-ming Poo, a co-author, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences Centre for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology. But, he added, “we cloned [the macaques] to produce animal models useful for medicine, for human health. There’s no intention for us to apply this method to humans.”
“技术障碍现在被突破了。原则上(这种方法)可以应用于人类，”来自中国科学院脑科学与智能技术卓越创新中心(CEBSIT)的联名作者蒲慕明(Mu-ming Poo)表示。但他补充称：“我们克隆(这些猕猴)以培育用于医学、服务于人类健康的动物模型。我们无意将这种方法应用于人类。”
SCNT involves replacing the nucleus of an egg cell with DNA from a differentiated body cell such as skin. This reconstructed egg develops into a clone of the DNA donor.
体细胞核移植涉及用来自分化的体细胞(如皮肤)的DNA取代卵细胞的细胞核。经过重建的卵细胞发育成DNA供体的克隆。
In 1999 US researchers at the Oregon National Primate Research Center produced a live cloned rhesus monkey, named Tetra, through embryo splitting — a simpler process that occurs naturally in identical twins but cannot generate more than four clones at a time.
1999年，美国俄勒冈国家灵长类动物研究中心(Oregon National Primate Research Center)的研究人员利用胚胎分裂技术(一种更简单的过程，在同卵双胞胎中自然发生，但无法一次产生4个以上的克隆)，成功克隆出一只名叫Tetra的恒河猴。
In principle, SCNT can produce a larger number of clones from the same donor, which could help medical research by generating genetically uniform groups of monkeys with specific characteristics.
原则上，体细胞核移植可从相同的供体产生更大数量的克隆，有望通过产生具有特定特征的基因一致的猴群来帮助医学研究。
The team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Neuroscience in Shanghai failed in its efforts to produce healthy clones from adult cells but succeeded with fibroblasts — connective tissue cells — from a macaque foetus.
位于上海的中国科学院神经科学研究所的研究小组未能从成体细胞获得健康的克隆，但用一个猕猴胎儿的成纤维细胞(结缔组织细胞)取得了成功。
“The researchers not only replace the DNA sequence but also make sure the sequence expression of certain genes and the amount of that expression are co-ordinated so they are in the right place at the right time,” said Gang Fang at New York University Shanghai. “That’s quite difficult.”
“研究人员不仅要替换DNA序列，还要确保某些基因的序列表达以及表达的数量协调一致，使它们在正确的时间到达正确的位置，”上海纽约大学(New York University Shanghai)的方刚表示。“这种操作的难度很大。”
Zhong Zhong, eight weeks, and Hua Hua, six weeks, are apparently developing normally. The Shanghai team expects more macaque clones to be born over the coming months.
8周的中中和6周的华华显然在正常发育。上海的研究团队预计未来几个月会有更多克隆猕猴诞生。
The study raises concerns about animal ethics in China, which has less rigid testing regulations than many other countries, though the researchers followed guidelines for animal research set by the US National Institutes of Health. Dr Poo is encouraging scientists internationally to discuss the issue. “We are very aware that future research using non-human primates anywhere in the world depends on scientists following very strict ethical standards,” he said.
这项研究令人关注中国的动物伦理学，中国的试验法规没有其他很多国家那么严格，尽管上海项目的研究人员遵循了美国国立卫生研究院(NIH)制定的动物研究指导方针。蒲慕明鼓励各国科学家讨论这个问题。“我们非常清楚，未来在世界上任何地方利用非人灵长类动物开展研究，都有赖于科学家们遵循非常严格的伦理标准，”他表示。
The cloned macaques are examples of the way skyrocketing Chinese state funding of basic research is yielding significant advances in fields ranging from quantum computing to biology.
克隆猕猴是又一个例证，说明中国对基础研究大举增加的拨款，正在从量子计算到生物学等各个领域带来长足进展。
Chinese state-led funding of basic research — science that has no immediate commercial applications — increased to $10bn in 2015. While that number is about one-quarter of US federal spending on basic research, it represents a vast increase from the $3.9bn in total state science funding four years earlier, according to China’s National Natural Science Foundation.
在中国，国家主导的基础研究(没有直接商业应用的科学研究)经费在2015年增至100亿美元。尽管这个数字大约是美国联邦基础研究支出的四分之一，但是相比四年前39亿美元的国家科研经费总额，这是一个巨大增加(数据来自中国国家自然科学基金会)。
