Bacteria Can Use Viruses To Spread Toxin Gene

For years, scientists and physicians have been up in arms about the rise in antibiotic resistance. Seems that many bacteria, devious buggers that they are, are able to share genetic information—including, say, the instructions for destroying penicillin. Well, if that’s not bad enough, scientists from the NYU School of Medicine have found that some bacteria can use viruses to help them pass along the recipe for their favorite toxin, results published in the journal Science.

Like humans, bacteria are also prone to infection by viruses. And most of these viruses—called bacteriophage, or phage for short—make their bacterial victims sick. Or even dead. But in the laboratory, the scientists discovered that Staphylococcus aureus, the bug that causes toxic shock syndrome among other things, can actually co-opt phage, using them to shuttle the gene for toxic-shock toxin to another bacteria, in this case Listeria. That’s doubly nasty, because Listeria on its own causes food poisoning, so if it added toxic shock to its repertoire, well, that would be one seriously bad bug. Whether Staph aureus can pull off this stunt outside the lab’s not clear. But in this particular battle, ya gotta hope the viruses come out on top.

细菌能利用病毒传播毒素基因

多年以来，科学家们和医生们对于细菌对抗生素的抗药性增强感到十分恼火。好像很多的细菌（它们狡猾，令人讨厌）能共享基因信息---包括诸如破坏青霉素的指令。但是，这还不算是最糟糕的，来自纽约大学医学院的科学家们发现有些细菌能利用病毒来帮助它们传播毒素。这项研究结果发表在《科学》（Science）杂志上。

和人一样，细菌容易受到病毒的感染。这些病毒叫做噬菌体，它们中的大多数能使细菌治病，甚至致使其死亡。但是，科学家们在实验室中发现金黄色葡萄球菌实际上（这种病毒导致中毒性休克综合症以及其它病症）能指定噬菌体把中毒性休克毒素基因传播给另一种细菌，在这个实验中，传播给了李斯特菌。这使得情况变得更加糟糕，因为李斯特菌本身能导致食物中毒，所以如果再加上中毒性休克病毒，这种病菌将成为一种严重的致病病菌。金黄色葡萄球菌在实验室外是否能完成这项“特技”目前还不清楚。但在这场特殊的战斗中，你肯定希望病毒最终获胜。

Vocabulary:

Bacteria: 细菌；
Virus: 病毒
Toxin: 毒素
Gene: 基因
Physician: （内科）医生；医师
Be up in arms: 非常愤怒
Antibiotic: 抗生素的
Penicillin: 青霉素；盘尼西林
Resistance: 抵抗
Devious: 狡猾的
Recipe: 秘方；食谱
Prone: 易于…的
Bacteriophage: 噬菌体
Staphylococcus aureus: 金黄色葡萄球菌
Syndrome: 综合症状
Co-opt: 指定
Nasty: 讨厌的
Pull sth off: 努力实现；赢得
Stunt: 特技
Repertoire: 所有组成部分；常备剧目
Ya: (口语)你