Roses are blue, violets are red
玫瑰是藍(lán)色的，紫羅蘭是紅色的 （陳繼龍 編譯）
Feb 8th 2007
From The Economist print edition
If you don't like GM food, try flowers instead
要是不喜歡轉(zhuǎn)基因食品，試試轉(zhuǎn)基因花
BEAUTIFUL flowers—like beautiful women—can separate the most sensible of men from their money. Those men invest in the reproductive organs of plants such as roses to signal, albeit coyly, analogous intentions of their own.
美麗的花朵就像美女一樣，會讓極為感性的男人傾其所有。那些男人用買來的玫瑰（或者其它）花蕊（花的“生殖器官”），去表白自己希望共結(jié)連理的心愿——雖然有點(diǎn)害羞。
The result is a cut-flower industry in which roses alone are worth $10 billion a year. But that is peanuts compared with what happened in the past. In 17th century Holland, tulips （the fashionable flower du jour） grew so expensive that people exchanged them for houses. One bulb of the most sought-after variety, the flaming red-striped Semper Augustus, sold for twice the yearly income of a rich merchant.
切花（cut-flower）產(chǎn)業(yè)就這樣形成了，每年僅玫瑰一種花即可創(chuàng)造100億美元的價(jià)值，不過相比從前這只能算是蠅頭小利。在17世紀(jì)的荷蘭，風(fēng)行一時(shí)的郁金香身價(jià)倍增，以至于人們不惜變賣房產(chǎn)來換取郁金香。帶有火紅條紋的“永遠(yuǎn)的奧古斯都”（Semper Augustus）是歡迎的一種，它的一塊球莖售價(jià)相當(dāng)于一個(gè)富商年收入的兩倍。
For modern flower growers, the equivalentof the Semper Augustus is the blue rose, which horticulturalists have longed for since the Victorian period. Any blue rose sent on St Valentine's day this year will have been dyed. But if Yoshi Tanaka, a researcher at Suntory, a Japanese drinks company, has his way, that will soon change. Dr Tanaka is currently overseeing the first field trials of a blue rose developed by Suntory's subsidiary, Florigene. If the trials are successful, a dozen blue roses—even if they do look slightly mauve[1] —could, by 2010, be what separates an unsuccessful suitor from Prince Charming.
在現(xiàn)代花卉栽培者看來，堪與“永遠(yuǎn)的奧古斯都”相提并論的唯有藍(lán)色玫瑰。自維多利亞時(shí)代以來，園藝家就一直渴望培育出這種玫瑰。今年情人節(jié)送出的所有藍(lán)色玫瑰還將是染成的，但如果日本三得利（Suntory）飲品公司專家田中良（Yoshi Tanaka）能夠如愿以償，情況就會很快得到改變。三得利的子公司Florigene培育的一種藍(lán)色玫瑰已經(jīng)開始了首次野外栽培試驗(yàn)，田中博士目前正在對試驗(yàn)進(jìn)行密切觀察。一旦試驗(yàn)成功，那么到2010年的時(shí)候，12朵藍(lán)色玫瑰——即使稍帶紫色——能夠讓求婚的小伙子“抱得美人歸”。
Flaming tulips. Blue roses. What Dutch growers of old and Dr Tanaka's employers both grasped is that rarity, and hence economic value, can be created by genetic manipulation.
火紅的郁金香，藍(lán)色的玫瑰。荷蘭老一代花卉栽培者和田中博士的老板都明白，物以稀為貴，而“稀”則可來自基因調(diào)控。
The stripes of the Semper Augustus were caused by the genes of a virus. Not knowing that an infection was involved, the Dutch growers were puzzled why the Semper Augustus would not breed true. The genetics of blue roses, too, have turned out to be more complicated than expected. The relevant genes cannot easily be pasted into rose DNA because the metabolic pathway for creating blue pigment in a rose consists of more chemical steps than it does in other types of flower. （Florigene has sold bluish genetically modified carnations since 1998.） Success, then, has been a matter of pinning down the genes that allow those extra steps to happen, and then transplanting them to their new host.
“永遠(yuǎn)的奧古斯都”上的條紋是由一種病毒基因造成的。荷蘭的花卉栽培者過去并不知道這與病毒感染有關(guān)，所以就搞不懂為什么“永遠(yuǎn)的奧古斯都”不易培育。藍(lán)色玫瑰的基因原理也比預(yù)想的更為復(fù)雜。由于在玫瑰中合成藍(lán)色素的代謝過程所涉及的化學(xué)反應(yīng)步驟較其他品種的花多，因此各種相關(guān)基因不易插入玫瑰DNA.（從1998年開始Florigene的經(jīng)基因修飾而成的藍(lán)色康乃馨就已上市。）故而成功的關(guān)鍵就在于，必須抑制那些引發(fā)干擾反應(yīng)的基因，然后再把它們移入新的宿主。
玫瑰是藍(lán)色的，紫羅蘭是紅色的 （陳繼龍 編譯）
Feb 8th 2007
From The Economist print edition
If you don't like GM food, try flowers instead
要是不喜歡轉(zhuǎn)基因食品，試試轉(zhuǎn)基因花
BEAUTIFUL flowers—like beautiful women—can separate the most sensible of men from their money. Those men invest in the reproductive organs of plants such as roses to signal, albeit coyly, analogous intentions of their own.
美麗的花朵就像美女一樣，會讓極為感性的男人傾其所有。那些男人用買來的玫瑰（或者其它）花蕊（花的“生殖器官”），去表白自己希望共結(jié)連理的心愿——雖然有點(diǎn)害羞。
The result is a cut-flower industry in which roses alone are worth $10 billion a year. But that is peanuts compared with what happened in the past. In 17th century Holland, tulips （the fashionable flower du jour） grew so expensive that people exchanged them for houses. One bulb of the most sought-after variety, the flaming red-striped Semper Augustus, sold for twice the yearly income of a rich merchant.
切花（cut-flower）產(chǎn)業(yè)就這樣形成了，每年僅玫瑰一種花即可創(chuàng)造100億美元的價(jià)值，不過相比從前這只能算是蠅頭小利。在17世紀(jì)的荷蘭，風(fēng)行一時(shí)的郁金香身價(jià)倍增，以至于人們不惜變賣房產(chǎn)來換取郁金香。帶有火紅條紋的“永遠(yuǎn)的奧古斯都”（Semper Augustus）是歡迎的一種，它的一塊球莖售價(jià)相當(dāng)于一個(gè)富商年收入的兩倍。
For modern flower growers, the equivalentof the Semper Augustus is the blue rose, which horticulturalists have longed for since the Victorian period. Any blue rose sent on St Valentine's day this year will have been dyed. But if Yoshi Tanaka, a researcher at Suntory, a Japanese drinks company, has his way, that will soon change. Dr Tanaka is currently overseeing the first field trials of a blue rose developed by Suntory's subsidiary, Florigene. If the trials are successful, a dozen blue roses—even if they do look slightly mauve[1] —could, by 2010, be what separates an unsuccessful suitor from Prince Charming.
在現(xiàn)代花卉栽培者看來，堪與“永遠(yuǎn)的奧古斯都”相提并論的唯有藍(lán)色玫瑰。自維多利亞時(shí)代以來，園藝家就一直渴望培育出這種玫瑰。今年情人節(jié)送出的所有藍(lán)色玫瑰還將是染成的，但如果日本三得利（Suntory）飲品公司專家田中良（Yoshi Tanaka）能夠如愿以償，情況就會很快得到改變。三得利的子公司Florigene培育的一種藍(lán)色玫瑰已經(jīng)開始了首次野外栽培試驗(yàn)，田中博士目前正在對試驗(yàn)進(jìn)行密切觀察。一旦試驗(yàn)成功，那么到2010年的時(shí)候，12朵藍(lán)色玫瑰——即使稍帶紫色——能夠讓求婚的小伙子“抱得美人歸”。
Flaming tulips. Blue roses. What Dutch growers of old and Dr Tanaka's employers both grasped is that rarity, and hence economic value, can be created by genetic manipulation.
火紅的郁金香，藍(lán)色的玫瑰。荷蘭老一代花卉栽培者和田中博士的老板都明白，物以稀為貴，而“稀”則可來自基因調(diào)控。
The stripes of the Semper Augustus were caused by the genes of a virus. Not knowing that an infection was involved, the Dutch growers were puzzled why the Semper Augustus would not breed true. The genetics of blue roses, too, have turned out to be more complicated than expected. The relevant genes cannot easily be pasted into rose DNA because the metabolic pathway for creating blue pigment in a rose consists of more chemical steps than it does in other types of flower. （Florigene has sold bluish genetically modified carnations since 1998.） Success, then, has been a matter of pinning down the genes that allow those extra steps to happen, and then transplanting them to their new host.
“永遠(yuǎn)的奧古斯都”上的條紋是由一種病毒基因造成的。荷蘭的花卉栽培者過去并不知道這與病毒感染有關(guān)，所以就搞不懂為什么“永遠(yuǎn)的奧古斯都”不易培育。藍(lán)色玫瑰的基因原理也比預(yù)想的更為復(fù)雜。由于在玫瑰中合成藍(lán)色素的代謝過程所涉及的化學(xué)反應(yīng)步驟較其他品種的花多，因此各種相關(guān)基因不易插入玫瑰DNA.（從1998年開始Florigene的經(jīng)基因修飾而成的藍(lán)色康乃馨就已上市。）故而成功的關(guān)鍵就在于，必須抑制那些引發(fā)干擾反應(yīng)的基因，然后再把它們移入新的宿主。