科学美国人60秒：狗狗的年龄如何计算？
燕山大学 刘立军 供稿
【TRANSCRIPT】
This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Eliene Augenbraun.
How old is your four-legged best friend? Common wisdom says that a dog ages seven years for every human year. But Tina Wang, a graduate student at the University of California, San Diego, wanted a more accurate assessment. Her quest started five years ago, when she rescued a dog from a shelter.
"I kind of just wanted to ask how old she was cause I felt like they were giving me an age that was very sensible, but I wasn't sure she was actually that old. So that kind of started this whole project."
Wang worked in Trey Ideker's lab, where they study changing patterns of DNA methylation in humans. Small chemical entities called methyl groups attach to stretches of DNA, which affects what sequences are active. As we age, some stretches of DNA get more methylated, and others less. The pattern is so consistent over the course of most people's lives that it can be used as an aging "clock." The same process happens in dogs - and published reports existed from other labs about methylation patterns in dogs changing over time.
So Wang compared the age-related patterns in 320 humans and 104 Labrador retrievers.
"We knew that DNA methylation can predict age in many mammals, but we didn't know exactly how much of this was shared throughout the progression of life, and it wasn't clear if there was anything that was shared. And because of these similarities, we were able to identify a conserved aging signature that allows you to estimate dog years from human years based on this molecular profile."
The researchers say that dog years per human year change over the lifetime of a dog. For example, their method has a one-year-old dog being the equivalent of a 30-year-old human. A four-year-old dog is about 52. And dog aging per year slows considerably after that. To see a chart of the aging estimates, check out the paper at the bioRxiv Website.
For Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Eliene Augenbraun.
【VOCABULARY】
1. shelter n. a building, usually owned by a charity, that provides a place to stay for people without a home, or protection for people or animals who have been badly treated （无家可归者或受虐待者的）收容所，庇护所。例如：an animal shelter 动物收容处
2. methylation n. 甲基化；甲基化作用
3. entity n. (formal) something that exists separately from other things and has its own identity 独立存在物；实体。例如：The unit has become part of a larger department and no longer exists as a separate entity. 这个单位已附属于一个大的部门，不再作为一个实体独立存在。
4. methyl n. 甲基；木精
5. retriever n. a large dog used in hunting to bring back birds that have been shot 寻回犬
6. molecular adj. 分子的
【QUESTIONS】
Read the passage. Then listen to the news and fill in the blanks with the information (words, phrases or sentences) you hear.
This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Eliene Augenbraun.
How old is your four-legged best friend? Common (Q1) _______ says that a dog ages (Q2) _______ years for every human year. But Tina Wang, a graduate student at the University of California, San Diego, wanted a more (Q3) __________________________. Her quest started five years ago, when she rescued a dog from a shelter.
"I kind of just wanted to ask how old she was cause I felt like they were giving me an age that was very (Q4) _______________, but I wasn't sure she was actually that old. So that kind of started this whole project."
Wang worked in Trey Ideker's lab, where they study (Q5) ___________________________ of DNA methylation in humans. Small chemical entities called methyl groups attach to stretches of DNA, which affects what sequences are active. As we age, some stretches of DNA get more methylated, and others less. The pattern is so consistent over the course of most people's lives that it can be used as an aging "clock." The same process happens in dogs - and (Q6) _____________________ existed from other labs about methylation patterns in dogs changing over time.
So Wang compared the age-related patterns in 320 humans and 104 Labrador retrievers.
"We knew that DNA methylation can predict age in many (Q7) ________________, but we didn't know exactly how much of this was shared throughout the progression of life, and it wasn't clear if there was anything that was shared. And because of these similarities, we were able to identify a conserved aging (Q8) _____________________ that allows you to estimate dog years from human years based on this molecular profile."
The researchers say that dog years per human year change over the lifetime of a dog. For example, their method has a one-year-old dog being the (Q9) _______________________ of a 30-year-old human. A four-year-old dog is about 52. And dog aging per year slows (Q10) _________________ after that. To see a chart of the aging estimates, check out the paper at the bioRxiv Web site.
For Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Eliene Augenbraun.
【KEY】
Read the passage. Then listen to the news and fill in the blanks with the information (words, phrases or sentences) you hear.
This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Eliene Augenbraun.
How old is your four-legged best friend? Common (Q1) wisdom says that a dog ages (Q2) seven years for every human year. But Tina Wang, a graduate student at the University of California, San Diego, wanted a more (Q3) accurate assessment. Her quest started five years ago, when she rescued a dog from a shelter.
"I kind of just wanted to ask how old she was cause I felt like they were giving me an age that was very (Q4) sensible, but I wasn't sure she was actually that old. So that kind of started this whole project."
Wang worked in Trey Ideker's lab, where they study (Q5) changing patterns of DNA methylation in humans. Small chemical entities called methyl groups attach to stretches of DNA, which affects what sequences are active. As we age, some stretches of DNA get more methylated, and others less. The pattern is so consistent over the course of most people's lives that it can be used as an aging "clock." The same process happens in dogs - and (Q6) published reports existed from other labs about methylation patterns in dogs changing over time.
So Wang compared the age-related patterns in 320 humans and 104 Labrador retrievers.
"We knew that DNA methylation can predict age in many (Q7) mammals, but we didn't know exactly how much of this was shared throughout the progression of life, and it wasn't clear if there was anything that was shared. And because of these similarities, we were able to identify a conserved aging (Q8) signature that allows you to estimate dog years from human years based on this molecular profile."
The researchers say that dog years per human year change over the lifetime of a dog. For example, their method has a one-year-old dog being the (Q9) equivalent of a 30-year-old human. A four-year-old dog is about 52. And dog aging per year slows (Q10) considerably after that. To see a chart of the aging estimates, check out the paper at the bioRxiv Web site.
For Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Eliene Augenbraun.