The virus is particularly difficult to treat because its mutation rate is so high.

治疗这种病毒格外困难，因为它突变速度太快。

This makes coronaviruses much more stable, with a slower mutation rate, than other RNA viruses.

这使得冠状病毒比其他 RNA 病毒更稳定，突变率更慢。

They’re based on models of DNA mutation rates, our records of historical events, and some educated guesswork.

它们基于 DNA 突变率模型、我们的历史事件记录以及一些有根据的猜测。

And that was true even after controlling for other factors that could affect how quickly these birds are evolving, like generation time and mutation rate.

并且，即便控制世代寿命和突变率等能影响鸟类进化速度的因素，上述现象依然会出现。

Six of the 12 populations evolved hypermutability, mutation rates a hundred times higher than their ancestors, but these populations subsequently acquired additional mutations that brought the mutation rate back down.

12个种群中的6个进化出了超突变性，突变率比其祖先高出一百倍，但这些种群随后获得了额外的突变， 使突变率回落。

While this may sound formidable, the slow mutation rate is actually a promising sign when it comes to disarming them.

虽然这听起来很可怕，但在解除它们的武装方面，缓慢的突变率实际上是一个有希望的迹象。

I mean, it's advantageous to be able to evolve faster than others, but if the mutation rate is too high, then offspring have too many deleterious mutations.

我的意思是， 能够比其他人进化得更快是有利的，但如果突变率太高，那么后代就会有太多有害的突变。

This information makes it possible to use the mutation rate of organisms to look back in time to see when two related species diverged.

这些信息使得利用生物体的突变率来及时回顾两个相关物种何时出现分歧成为可能。

The slower mutation rate of coronaviruses means our immune systems, drugs, and vaccines might be able to recognize them for longer after infection, and therefore protect us better.

冠状病毒较慢的突变率意味着我们的免疫系统、药物和疫苗可能能够在感染后更长时间地识别它们，从而更好地保护我们。

Like, when they added an estimated mutation rate into their calculations, they were able to work backward, tracing the modern Y chromosome back to a single dude about 190,000 years ago.

就像，当他们在计算中加入估计的突变率时，他们能够向后工作， 将现代 Y 染色体追溯到大约 190, 000 年前的一个人。

We have, though, had some incredible successes: we eradicated smallpox thanks to an effective vaccine, the fact that it can't hide out in other species, and its relatively low mutation rate.

不过，我们取得了一些令人难以置信的成功：我们根除了天花，这要归功于一种有效的疫苗，它不能隐藏在其他物种中，而且它的突变率相对较低。

They reproduce so quickly and so the mutation rate is very very high, and they have to be taking up some of the same genetic material that's present in the other organisms that are living within the barrel.

它们繁殖得如此之快，因此突变率非常高，它们必须吸收一些生活在桶内的其他生物体中存在的相同遗传物质。

They calculated when different bacterial groups diverged from each other based on  the mutation rate of their DNA. Then, they looked at how genes related to chitin  use are distributed across the family tree.

他们根据 DNA 的突变率计算出不同细菌群何时彼此分化。 然后，他们研究了与几丁质使用相关的基因如何分布在整个家谱中。