Karen Hopkin: This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I’m Karen Hopkin.
这里是《科学美国人》的 60 秒科学，我是凯伦·霍普金。
Hedgehogs are a lot of things. They’re small and spiky, covered in quills. And some people even say they’re cute. Now, a new study says that they are also the origin of resistance to methicillin, an antibiotic derived from penicillin. That pointed observation appears in the journal Nature.
刺猬拥有多重特点：它们小巧却尖锐，浑身是刺却在一些人看来甚是可爱。现在，一项新研究表示，刺猬还是一种提取自青霉素的抗生素，甲氧西林耐药性的源头。这一尖锐观点发表在《自然》(Nature)期刊上。
Antibiotic resistance is a huge clinical problem. And methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus…otherwise known as M-R-S-A or MRSA…can be difficult to treat as many have developed resistance to a handful of our frontline therapeutics.
抗生素耐药性是一个严重的临床问题。耐甲氧西林的金黄色葡萄球菌(Staphylococcus aureus)，也就是MRSA的感染难以治疗，因为许多人已经对屈指可数的一线治疗药物产生了耐药性。
Jesper Larsen: Historically it has been assumed that resistance in disease-causing bacteria, including Staph aureus, is a modern phenomenon driven by clinical use of antibiotics.
过去我们认为，包括金黄色葡萄球菌在内的致病菌耐药性是一种现代才出现的现象，由临床使用抗生素所致。
Hopkin: Jesper Larsen is a senior scientist at the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen…
杰斯珀·拉森(Jesper Larsen)是丹麦国家血清研究所(Statens Serum Institute)的资深科学家。
Larsen: …which is the Danish equivalent of the CDC in the US.
该研究所在丹麦的地位相当于美国疾病控制和预防中心(CDC)在美国的地位。
Hopkin: Methicillin resistance was thought to be tied to prescription, in part because methicillin-resistant bugs were first isolated from British hospitals just a year after the drug became available for clinical use.
甲氧西林耐药性被认为与处方药相关，一部分原因是在该药物获得临床使用后的一年内，英国医院就率先分离了出甲氧西林耐药菌。
Larsen: But a couple of years ago we found out by chance that MecC M-R-S-A is present in more than 60 percent of hedgehogs from Denmark and Sweden.
但几年前，我们偶然发现在丹麦和瑞典，60%以上的刺猬体内存在MecC M-R-S-A。
Hopkin: Ok, what’s MecC M-R-S-A? Methicillin and penicillin belong to the so-called “beta lactam” family of antibiotics. They kill bacteria by inhibiting enzymes the bugs use to build their protective cell walls. MecC…and a related gene MecA…encode versions of the enzymes that the antibiotics don’t latch onto as well.
什么是mecC M-R-S-A?甲氧西林和青霉素属于β-内酰胺类抗生素，细菌通过酶来构建自己的保护性细胞壁，而β-内酰胺类抗生素则通过抑制这些酶来杀死细菌。但mecC以及相关基因mecA能编码抗生素也无法破坏的酶。
Larsen: Staph aureus bacteria that carry these genes are therefore resistant to most beta lactam antibiotics.
因此，携带这些基因的金黄色葡萄球菌对大部分β-内酰胺类抗生素都具有耐药性。
Hopkin: But where did these resistance genes come from? They’ve been spotted not only In folks with Staph infections, but in livestock…like pigs and cattle…and in some wild animals. And in Sweden, Larsen found that mecC is really common in hedgehogs.
但是，这些耐药性基因又从哪里来呢?它们不仅出现在感染了金黄色葡萄球菌的人体内，还出现在家畜，例如猪和牛，甚至一些野生动物体内。在瑞典，拉森发现mecC常见于刺猬体内。
Larsen: So the big question was, why hedgehogs carry so much mecC MRSA.
所以大问题来了，为什么刺猬携带了这么多mecC MRSA呢?
Hopkin: To find out, Larsen went to the library…
为了找出答案，拉森去了图书馆。
Larsen: …where I came across an old study from the 1960s which showed that a particular fungus in hedgehogs is able to produce a penicillin-like antibiotic that is very similar to methicillin.
在那里，我找到了一篇上世纪60年代的旧论文，里面提到刺猬体内的一种特殊真菌能够制造青霉素类抗生素，与甲氧西林非常相似。
Hopkin: So hedgehogs with this particular skin fungus would naturally be exposed to penicillin. And that could have launched an evolutionary arms race that drove the hedgehog’s resident bacteria to evolve resistance.
所以，拥有这种特殊皮肤真菌的刺猬天然就在接触青霉素，这或许引发了一场演化军备大赛，驱动寄居在刺猬身上的细菌演变出抗性。
Larsen: This was a real eureka moment and led us to hypothesize that wild hedgehogs have been a natural reservoir of mecC MRSA long before penicillin and methicillin came on the market.
当时我们忽然灵光乍现，想到早在青霉素和甲氧西林出现之前，野生刺猬一直都是mecC MRSA的天然储备库。
Hopkin: To confirm this suspicion, Larsen and his colleagues screened hedgehogs from Europe and New Zealand and found that hedgehogs in Scandinavia and the UK harbor a heavy load of mecC MRSA. And they also found that the fungus carried by those hedgehogs had all the genes they needed to produce penicillin.
为了确认自己的这一假设，拉森和团队筛选出一批来自欧洲和新西兰的刺猬，发现斯堪的纳维亚和英国的刺猬携带着大量mecC MRSA。他们还发现，这些刺猬身上的真菌具备一切需要用来制造青霉素的基因。
Larsen: We then went on and sequenced and analyzed the genomes of around one thousand mecC MRSA isolates. Which showed that they first appeared in hedgehogs in the early 1800s long before we started to use antibiotics in human and veterinary medicine.
于是，我们继续测序、分析了大约一千株mecC MRSA分离株的基因组，结果表明它们最早出现在刺猬体内的时间是19世纪初，远早于我们在人类医学和兽医学中使用抗生素的时间。
Hopkin: Now, that doesn’t mean that we should feel free to use antibiotics all over the place, because it’s not our fault…it’s the hedgehogs’. Because if having antibiotics around encourages bacteria to evolve resistance, taking antibiotics away robs them of their superpower…and leaves them a little bit weaker than their non-resistant kin.
现在，虽说这不是我们的错，而是刺猬的错，却并不表明我们可以随意使用抗生素。如果被抗生素团团围住的细菌努力演化出抗性，那么撤走抗生素会剥夺它们的超能力，让它们变弱，逊于自己的非抗性同类。
Larsen: It is often very energy consuming to produce the enzymes that inactivate the antibiotics. This means that resistant bacteria will often be outcompeted by susceptible bacteria in periods when they are not exposed to antibiotics.
生成让抗生素失活的酶非常消耗能量，这表明在不暴露于抗生素的情况下，耐药菌将会被易感菌击溃。
Hopkin: So if we really want to show MRSA no mercy, we should keep the methicillin to a minimum. And maybe keep at least a quills-length away from Scandinavian hedgehogs.
所以，如果我们真想要对MRSA痛下杀手，就应该将甲氧西林控制在最低使用限度内，至少与斯堪的纳维亚的刺猬保持一根刺的距离。
For Scientific American’s 60-Second Science, I’m Karen Hopkin.
以上是《科学美国人》的 60 秒科学，凯伦·霍普金报道。
Karen Hopkin: This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I’m Karen Hopkin.
Hedgehogs are a lot of things. They’re small and spiky, covered in quills. And some people even say they’re cute. Now, a new study says that they are also the origin of resistance to methicillin, an antibiotic derived from penicillin. That pointed observation appears in the journal Nature.
Antibiotic resistance is a huge clinical problem. And methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus…otherwise known as M-R-S-A or MRSA…can be difficult to treat as many have developed resistance to a handful of our frontline therapeutics.
Jesper Larsen: Historically it has been assumed that resistance in disease-causing bacteria, including Staph aureus, is a modern phenomenon driven by clinical use of antibiotics.
Hopkin: Jesper Larsen is a senior scientist at the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen…
Larsen: …which is the Danish equivalent of the CDC in the US.
Hopkin: Methicillin resistance was thought to be tied to prescription, in part because methicillin-resistant bugs were first isolated from British hospitals just a year after the drug became available for clinical use.
Larsen: But a couple of years ago we found out by chance that MecC M-R-S-A is present in more than 60 percent of hedgehogs from Denmark and Sweden.
Hopkin: Ok, what’s MecC M-R-S-A? Methicillin and penicillin belong to the so-called “beta lactam” family of antibiotics. They kill bacteria by inhibiting enzymes the bugs use to build their protective cell walls. MecC…and a related gene MecA…encode versions of the enzymes that the antibiotics don’t latch onto as well.
Larsen: Staph aureus bacteria that carry these genes are therefore resistant to most beta lactam antibiotics.
Hopkin: But where did these resistance genes come from? They’ve been spotted not only In folks with Staph infections, but in livestock…like pigs and cattle…and in some wild animals. And in Sweden, Larsen found that mecC is really common in hedgehogs.
Larsen: So the big question was, why hedgehogs carry so much mecC MRSA.
Hopkin: To find out, Larsen went to the library…
Larsen: …where I came across an old study from the 1960s which showed that a particular fungus in hedgehogs is able to produce a penicillin-like antibiotic that is very similar to methicillin.
Hopkin: So hedgehogs with this particular skin fungus would naturally be exposed to penicillin. And that could have launched an evolutionary arms race that drove the hedgehog’s resident bacteria to evolve resistance.
Larsen: This was a real eureka moment and led us to hypothesize that wild hedgehogs have been a natural reservoir of mecC MRSA long before penicillin and methicillin came on the market.
Hopkin: To confirm this suspicion, Larsen and his colleagues screened hedgehogs from Europe and New Zealand and found that hedgehogs in Scandinavia and the UK harbor a heavy load of mecC MRSA. And they also found that the fungus carried by those hedgehogs had all the genes they needed to produce penicillin.
Larsen: We then went on and sequenced and analyzed the genomes of around one thousand mecC MRSA isolates. Which showed that they first appeared in hedgehogs in the early 1800s long before we started to use antibiotics in human and veterinary medicine.
Hopkin: Now, that doesn’t mean that we should feel free to use antibiotics all over the place, because it’s not our fault…it’s the hedgehogs’. Because if having antibiotics around encourages bacteria to evolve resistance, taking antibiotics away robs them of their superpower…and leaves them a little bit weaker than their non-resistant kin.
Larsen: It is often very energy consuming to produce the enzymes that inactivate the antibiotics. This means that resistant bacteria will often be outcompeted by susceptible bacteria in periods when they are not exposed to antibiotics.
Hopkin: So if we really want to show MRSA no mercy, we should keep the methicillin to a minimum. And maybe keep at least a quills-length away from Scandinavian hedgehogs.
For Scientific American’s 60-Second Science, I’m Karen Hopkin.
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