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In Chernobyl’s Stray Dogs, Scientists Look for Genetic Effects of Radiation
科学家从切尔诺贝利的流浪狗身上寻找辐射对基因的影响
After the disaster at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986, local residents were forced to permanently evacuate, leaving behind their homes and, in some cases, their pets.
1986年乌克兰切尔诺贝利核电站发生灾难后，当地居民被迫永久撤离，将房屋甚至宠物抛在身后。
Concerned that these abandoned animals might spread disease or contaminate humans, officials tried to exterminate them.
由于担心这些被遗弃的动物可能传播疾病或对人类造成污染，官员们试图扑杀这些动物。
And yet, a population of dogs somehow endured.
然而，一群狗因为某种原因存活了下来。
They found fellowship with Chernobyl cleanup crews, and the power plant workers who remained in the area sometimes gave them food.
他们与切尔诺贝利的清理工作人员建立了友谊，留在该地区的核电站工人有时会给它们食物。
Today, hundreds of free-ranging dogs live in the area around the site of the disaster, known as the exclusion zone.
如今，数百只自由放养的狗生活在灾难现场周围的地区，这些地区被称为隔离区。
They roam through the abandoned city of Pripyat and bed down in the highly contaminated Semikhody train station.
这些狗在废弃的普里皮亚季城里四处游荡，就睡在污染严重的塞米霍迪火车站。
Now, scientists have conducted the first deep dive into the animals’ DNA.
现在，科学家们对这些动物的DNA进行了首次深入研究。
The dogs of Chernobyl are genetically distinct, different from purebred canines as well as other groups of free-breeding dogs, the scientists reported Friday in Science Advances.
科学家们在周五的《科学进展》杂志上报道，切尔诺贝利的狗在基因上是十分独特的，不同于纯种犬和其他自由繁殖的狗。
It remains too soon to say whether, or how, the radioactive environment has contributed to the unique genetic profiles of the dogs of Chernobyl, the scientists said.
科学家们说，现在就说放射性环境是否或如何促成了切尔诺贝利的狗拥有独特的基因图谱，还为时过早。
But the study is the first step in an effort to understand not only how long-term radiation exposure has affected the dogs but also what it takes to survive an environmental catastrophe.
但为了理解长期暴露在辐射中对狗有什么影响，以及如何在环境灾难中幸存下来，这项研究是第一步。
"Do they have mutations that they've acquired that allow them to live and breed successfully in this region?"
"他们是否发生了突变，使他们能够在这个地区成功地生活和繁衍？"
said Elaine Ostrander, a dog genomics expert at the National Human Genome Research Institute and a senior author of the study.
这项研究的资深作者、美国国家人类基因组研究所的犬类基因组学专家伊莱恩·奥斯特兰德说。
"What challenges do they face and how have they coped genetically?"
"他们面临着什么挑战，他们是如何在基因方面应对这些问题的？"
The project is a collaboration among scientists in the United States, Ukraine and Poland, as well as the Clean Futures Fund, a nonprofit based in the United States that works in Chernobyl.
这个项目是由美国、乌克兰和波兰的科学家以及清洁未来基金会合作完成的。清洁未来基金会是一个总部位于美国的非营利性组织，在切尔诺贝利开展工作。
The nonprofit, which was established in 2016, began as an effort to provide health care and support to the power plant employees, who still work in the exclusion zone.
该非营利性组织成立于2016年，最初是为了向仍在隔离区工作的核电站员工提供医疗保健和支持。
But the organization soon realized that Chernobyl’s canine residents needed help, too.
但该组织很快意识到，切尔诺贝利的犬类居民也需要帮助。
Although the dog population boomed during the summer, it often crashed in the winter, when food became scarce.
虽然狗的数量在夏天激增，但在食物稀缺的冬天，狗的数量往往会暴跌。
Rabies was an ongoing concern.
狂犬病也一直是一个令人担忧的问题。
