英科學家稱每人體內有60組變異基因
或許這聽起來像是科幻小說中天馬行空的想象，不過研究者們稱，我們與電影《X戰警》中的變異人有着不少的“共同點”。
Scientists have found that each human being has around 60 different mutations in their genes.
科學家們發現，每個人體當中大概存在着有60組變異的基因。
And although you might lack the superpowers of a character like Wolverine, the results are startling.
就算是想要具有金剛狼般上天入地的超能力並不大現實，不過這樣的發現還是相當的令人感到意外。
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.
來自英國劍橋大學的桑格研究院，以及美國和加拿大的相關研究機構透露，與父母一輩相比，我們中的每一個人的基因中都攜帶有60多處的突變。
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.
人類的基因組有23對染色體所組成，該研究顯示了在精子與卵子中所攜帶的基因成分都出現了突變，由此造成的結果便是在孩子的基因中發現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.
該研究同時使得之前所認爲的基因變異是源自父親還是母親的理論變得難以令人信服起來，因爲最終的結果顯示，事實上這些都是因人而異的。
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.
科學家們選取了兩個受測的家庭，每個家庭都由父母兩人以及一個孩子所組成，由此對於基因突變和程度與範圍進行定量的研究。
Looking for new mutations in the child, researchers combed through 6,000 possible mutations in each genome sequence.
研究者們對於6000組有可能出現突變的基因進行了逐一的檢測，以便在孩子的基因序列中尋找到變異的可能性。This proved extremely challenging, given that, on average, just one in every 100 million letters of DNA is altered each generation.
研究人員發現，在一代人當中，每100000000個基因編碼會出現一處變異的情況。
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.
科學家們還將源自父親精子與母親卵子之間的變異區隔開來，同時還理清了那些實在孩子出生以後發產生的變異。
The results, published in journal Nature Genetics, surprised scientists.
這份刊登在《自然遺傳學》期刊上的研究論文使得不少生物學家感到十分驚訝。
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.
據研究結果顯示，在受測家庭的一組中，孩子所出現的92%的變異基因來自於父親，然而在另一個家庭中，這一數據則僅爲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.
論文的作者之一，來自英國劍橋大學的桑格研究院的馬特·赫里斯博士說：“現在我弄清楚了一點，在某些家庭中，絕大部分的變異來自於母親，兒另一些家庭中變異源則來自父親。”
'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.'
“這樣的結果多少有些出乎意料，在此前的大家普遍的認爲，變異的絕大部分應該是來自於父親，這是因爲相對於卵子而言，精子在形成過程中需要消耗更多的時間進行基因的複製，這也就存在了更大的出現差錯的可能。”
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.
論文的作者之一是來自加拿大蒙特利大學的菲利普·阿瓦達教授，他表示：“如今我們可以對之前的理論進行仔細的驗證，這是得益於採用了實驗技術的發展，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.'
“這便於我們發現新的變異，而這些就好像是大海撈針一般。”
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.
該研究小組目前在將來進行進一步的研究，例如找出父母親的年齡與周圍環境的因素是否會對於基因變異產生影響，以及他們的研究是否能夠運用到測試有些遺傳疾病的出現等等。
