A  It took at least 3,000 years for humans to learn how to domesticate the wild tomato and cultivate it for food. Now two separate teams in Brazil and China have done it all over again in less than three years. And they have done it better in some ways, as the re-domesticated tomatoes are more nutritious than the ones we eat at present. 

A  人类花了至少 3000 年的时间才学会如何驯化野生番茄并将其栽培成食物。现在，巴西和中国的两个团队在不到三年的时间里又重新完成了这项工作。而且他们在某些方面做得更好，因为重新驯化的番茄比我们现在吃的番茄更有营养。

This approach relies on the revolutionary CRISPR genome editing technique, in which changes are deliberately made to the DNA of a living cell, allowing genetic material to be added, removed or altered. The technique could not only improve existing crops, but could also be used to turn thousands of wild plants into useful and appealing foods. In fact, a third team in the US has already begun to do this with a relative of the tomato called the groundcherry. 

这种方法依靠的是革命性的 CRISPR 基因组编辑技术，即故意改变活细胞的 DNA，从而添加、删除或改变遗传物质。这种技术不仅可以改良现有作物，还可以用来把成千上万种野生植物变成有用和有吸引力的食物。事实上，美国的第三个研究小组已经开始对番茄的近亲 “地衣 ”进行这项研究。

This fast-track domestication could help make the world's food supply healthier and far more resistant to diseases, such as the rust fungus devastating wheat crops. 

这种快速的驯化可以帮助世界粮食供应变得更加健康，对疾病的抵抗力也大大增强，例如对小麦作物造成破坏的锈病真菌。

'This could transform what we eat,' says Jorg Kudla at the University of Munster in Germany, a member of the Brazilian team. 'There are 50,000 edible plants in the world, but 90 percent of our energy comes from just 15 crops.' 

巴西研究小组成员、德国明斯特大学的约尔格-库德拉（Jorg Kudla）说："这将改变我们的饮食习惯。世界上有 5 万种可食用植物，但我们 90% 的能量仅来自 15 种作物。

'We can now mimic the known domestication course of major crops like rice, maize, sorghum or others,' says Caixia Gao of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. 'Then we might try to domesticate plants that have never been domesticated.'

北京中国科学院的高彩霞说：'我们现在可以模仿已知的水稻、玉米、高粱等主要作物的驯化过程。然后，我们可能会尝试驯化从未被驯化过的植物。

B  Wild tomatoes, which are native to the Andes region in South America, produce pea-sized fruits. Over many generations, peoples such as the Aztecs and Incas transformed the plant by selecting and breeding plants with mutations* in their genetic structure, which resulted in desirable traits such as larger fruit. 

B  野生番茄原产于南美洲的安第斯山脉地区，结出的果实只有豌豆大小。经过许多代人的努力，阿兹台克人和印加人等民族通过选择和培育基因结构发生突变*的植物来改造这种植物，从而使其具有更大的果实等理想性状。

But every time a single plant with a mutation is taken from a larger population for breeding, much genetic diversity is lost. And sometimes the desirable mutations come with less desirable traits. For instance, the tomato strains grown for supermarkets have lost much of their flavour. 

但是，每当从更大的种群中选育出一株有突变的植物时，就会失去很多遗传多样性。有时，理想的突变会带来不那么理想的性状。例如，为超市培育的西红柿品系已经失去了很多风味。

By comparing the genomes of modern plants to those of their wild relatives, biologists have been working out what genetic changes occurred as plants were domesticated. The teams in Brazil and China have now used this knowledge to reintroduce these changes from scratch while maintaining or even enhancing the desirable traits of wild strains. 

通过比较现代植物的基因组与其野生近缘植物的基因组，生物学家一直在研究植物被驯化后发生了哪些基因变化。现在，巴西和中国的研究小组利用这些知识，从头开始重新引入这些变化，同时保持甚至增强野生品系的理想特性。

C  Kudla's team made six changes altogether. For instance, they tripled the size of fruit by editing a gene called FRUIT WEIGHT, and increased the number of tomatoes per truss by editing another called MULTIFLORA. 

C  库德拉的团队一共进行了六次修改。例如，他们通过编辑一个名为 “果实重量”（FRUIT WEIGHT）的基因，使果实的大小增加了两倍；通过编辑另一个名为 “多花序”（MULTIFLORA）的基因，增加了每桁架上西红柿的数量。

While the historical domestication of tomatoes reduced levels of the red pigment lycopene – thought to have potential health benefits – the team in Brazil managed to boost it instead. The wild tomato has twice as much lycopene as cultivated ones; the newly domesticated one has five times as much. 

历史上番茄的驯化降低了红色素番茄红素的含量，而巴西的研究小组却设法提高了番茄红素的含量。野生番茄的番茄红素含量是栽培番茄的两倍，而新驯化番茄的番茄红素含量是栽培番茄的五倍。

'They are quite tasty,' says Kudla. 'A little bit strong. And very aromatic.' 

它们相当美味，"库德拉说。'味道有点浓。而且非常芳香。

The team in China re-domesticated several strains of wild tomatoes with desirable traits lost in domesticated tomatoes. In this way they managed to create a strain resistant to a common disease called bacterial spot race, which can devastate yields. They also created another strain that is more salt tolerant – and has higher levels of vitamin C. 

中国的研究小组重新驯化了几个野生番茄品系，这些品系具有驯化番茄所失去的理想性状。通过这种方法，他们成功地培育出了一种对细菌性斑点病这种常见病具有抗性的品系，这种病会破坏产量。他们还培育出了另一种耐盐性更强、维生素 C 含量更高的品系。

D  Meanwhile, Joyce Van Eck at the Boyce Thompson Institute in New York state decided to use the same approach to domesticate the groundcherry or goldenberry (Physalis pruinosa) for the first time. This fruit looks similar to the closely related Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana). 

D  与此同时，纽约州博伊斯-汤普森研究所的乔伊斯-范-埃克（Joyce Van Eck）决定使用同样的方法首次驯化地莓或金莓（Physalis pruinosa）。这种水果看起来与近缘的开普鹅莓（Physalis peruviana）相似。

Groundcherries are already sold to a limited extent in the US but they are hard to produce because the plant has a sprawling growth habit and the small fruits fall off the branches when ripe. Van Eck's team has edited the plants to increase fruit size, make their growth more compact and to stop fruits dropping. 'There's potential for this to be a commercial crop,' says Van Eck. But she adds that taking the work further would be expensive because of the need to pay for a licence for the CRISPR technology and get regulatory approval. 

美国已经在一定程度上出售地莓，但由于这种植物的生长习性蔓生，成熟时小果实会从枝头掉落，因此很难种植。Van Eck 的团队对植物进行了改良，以增大果实大小，使其生长更加紧凑，并阻止果实掉落。Van Eck 说："这有可能成为一种商业作物。但她补充说，进一步开展这项工作将耗资巨大，因为需要支付CRISPR技术的许可费并获得监管部门的批准。

E  This approach could boost the use of many obscure plants, says Jonathan Jones of the Sainsbury Lab in the UK. But it will be hard for new foods to grow so popular with farmers and consumers that they become new staple crops, he thinks. 

E  英国塞恩斯伯里实验室的乔纳森-琼斯（Jonathan Jones）说，这种方法可以促进许多不起眼植物的利用。但他认为，新食品很难受到农民和消费者的欢迎，以至于成为新的主要作物。

The three teams already have their eye on other plants that could be 'catapulted into the mainstream', including foxtail, oat-grass and cowpea. By choosing wild plants that are drought or heat tolerant, says Gao, we could create crops that will thrive even as the planet warms. 

这三个团队已经盯上了其他可能 “跃居主流 ”的植物，包括狐尾草、燕麦草和豇豆。高说，通过选择耐旱或耐热的野生植物，我们可以创造出即使地球变暖也能茁壮成长的作物。

But Kudla didn't want to reveal which species were in his team's sights, because CRISPR has made the process so easy. 'Any one with the right skills could go to their lab and do this.' 

但库德拉并不想透露他的团队看中了哪些物种，因为CRISPR技术让这一过程变得如此简单。任何拥有适当技能的人都可以去实验室做这件事。