英科学家称每人体内有60组变异基因

It might be one fantastical work of science fiction - but researchers have discovered we have more in common with the characters of the X-Men films than we first believe. 或许这听起来像是科幻小说中天马行空的想象，不过研究者们称，我们与电影《X战警》中的变异人有着不少的“共同点”。

Scientists have found that each human being has around 60 different mutations in their genes.

科学家们发现，每个人体当中大概存在着有60组变异的基因。

And although you might lack the superpowers of a character like Wolverine, the results are startling.

就算是想要具有金刚狼般上天入地的超能力并不大现实，不过这样的发现还是相当的令人感到意外。

Findings by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge and two other institutes in the U.S. and Canada revealed each one of us receives up to 60 mutations in our genome from our parents.

来自英国剑桥大学的桑格研究院，以及美国和加拿大的相关研究机构透露，与父母一辈相比，我们中的每一个人的基因中都携带有60多处的突变。

It shows that human genomes (our genetic makeup carried on 23 pairs of chromosomes) are mutated in both sperm and egg cells, resulting in changes to our DNA seen in neither parent.

人类的基因组有23对染色体所组成，该研究显示了在精子与卵子中所携带的基因成分都出现了突变，由此造成的结果便是在孩子的基因中发现了不曾在父母基因中所存在的新基因。

The studies also confounded previous theories over whether most mutations came from the mother or father, with results showing that it varied dramatically in each individual.

该研究同时使得之前所认为的基因变异是源自父亲还是母亲的理论变得难以令人信服起来，因为最终的结果显示，事实上这些都是因人而异的。

To try and ascertain how much of a 'mutant' each human is, scientists studied the genes of two families, both of which consisted of two parents and one child.

科学家们选取了两个受测的家庭，每个家庭都由父母两人以及一个孩子所组成，由此对于基因突变和程度与范围进行定量的研究。

Looking for new mutations in the child, researchers combed through 6,000 possible mutations in each genome sequence.

研究者们对于6000组有可能出现突变的基因进行了逐一的检测，以便在孩子的基因序列中寻找到变异的可能性。

This proved extremely challenging, given that, on average, just one in every 100 million letters of DNA is altered each generation.

研究人员发现，在一代人当中，每100000000个基因编码会出现一处变异的情况。

They also sorted mutations into those that occurred during the production of their parents' sperm or eggs, and those which happened after they were born.

科学家们还将源自父亲精子与母亲卵子之间的变异区隔开来，同时还理清了那些实在孩子出生以后发产生的变异。

The results, published in journal Nature Genetics, surprised scientists.

这份刊登在《自然遗传学》期刊上的研究论文使得不少生物学家感到十分惊讶。

They showed that in one family, 92 per cent of the child's mutations came from the father, while in another it was just 36 per cent.

据研究结果显示，在受测家庭的一组中，孩子所出现的92%的变异基因来自于父亲，然而在另一个家庭中，这一数据则仅为36%。

Study co-author Dr Matt Hurles, from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, said: 'We now know that, in some families, most mutations might arise from the mother, in others most will arise from the father.

论文的作者之一，来自英国剑桥大学的桑格研究院的马特·赫里斯博士说：“现在我弄清楚了一点，在某些家庭中，绝大部分的变异来自于母亲，儿另一些家庭中变异源则来自父亲。”

'This is a surprise: many people expected that in all families most mutations would come from the father, due to the additional number of times that the genome needs to be copied to make a sperm, as opposed to an egg.'

“这样的结果多少有些出乎意料，在此前的大家普遍的认为，变异的绝大部分应该是来自于父亲，这是因为相对于卵子而言，精子在形成过程中需要消耗更多的时间进行基因的复制，这也就存在了更大的出现差错的可能。”

Co-author Professor Philip Awadalla, from the University of Montreal added: 'Today we have been able to test previous theories through new developments in experimental technologies and our analytical algorithms.

论文的作者之一是来自加拿大蒙特利大学的菲利普·阿瓦达教授，他表示：“如今我们可以对之前的理论进行仔细的验证，这是得益于采用了实验技术的发展，以及所使用的分析方法。”

'This has allowed us to find these new mutations, which are like very small needles in a very large haystack.'

“这便于我们发现新的变异，而这些就好像是大海捞针一般。”

The team plans to do further research into how factors like parental age and environment affects the number of mutations, and how they could use their findings to identify debilitating genetic diseases.

该研究小组目前在将来进行进一步的研究，例如找出父母亲的年龄与周围环境的因素是否会对于基因变异产生影响，以及他们的研究是否能够运用到测试有些遗传疾病的出现等等。