Microbiologist Paul Keim at the ScienceWriters2011 conference in Flagstaff on October 16 explained that sequencing a pathogen's genome has dropped in 10 years from $500,000 to as low as $10. Steve Mirsky reports.
10月16日在Flagstaff召开的2011科学作家大会上， 微生物学家Paul Keim解释道：在10年之内，排列一个病菌基因的成本已经从50万美元降到了10美元。
“The human genome was sequenced, and in the process of moving that forward the technology that was developed was incredible. And because of their efforts in the human genome, that technology is available to folks like us.”
“ 人类的基因被排列出来了，在此过程中，技术发展惊人。受科学家们的不懈努力所赐，基因排列技术已经可以用于我们自身。”
Northern Arizona University’s Paul Keim at the ScienceWriters2011 conference. The ability to compare genomes is a powerful tool for identifying the origins of a natural disease outbreak or bioterrorism. Keim’s team examined the anthrax mailed to victims in the 2001 attacks and determined that it did not come from Iraq.
北亚利桑那大学的Paul Keim 在2011年科学作家大会上说了上面的话。比较基因的能力是鉴别到底是自然病毒还是生物恐怖主义的一个有力工具。Keim 的小组检查了寄给2001年事件受害者的炭疽病毒，并认定其并非来自于伊拉克。
“The govt really wanted to figure out what was going on there. Half a million dollars to sequence a genome, no problem, go do it. Go do it 20 times if you want. And so we had access to this technology. And so we were able to push the limits of what could be done in this area of molecular identification of pathogens at a very early stage. Ten years ago. Now we’re doing it on everything. Because the cost of this technology has plunged. We can sequence a genome of a bacterium for somewhere between $10 and $100.”
“政府想知道发生了什么事。拿出50万美元用于排列病菌基因，没问题，那就做吧。做多少次都没问题。我们已经有了这个技术。在非常早的时候，我们就能对病菌的分子鉴定上做到极致。十年之后的今天，我们已经无所不能。因为技术成本已经一降再降。我们能用10美元到100美元对一个细菌的基因进行排列。”