Unit 2.

Food and nutrition

Exercise 1. Word formation. Complete the columns of the table putting the words in the correct
word form.
Verb Noun Adjective
(negative
form where
available)
to access Получить (иметь) access доступ accessible Доступный
доступ
to responded Ответить response Ответственность responsible Ответственный
(реагировать) responsive
to reverse Изменять reversal Изменение reversible Измененный
(реверсировать) (реверсирование) (реверсивный)
to supply Поставлять supply Поставка supplied Поставляемый
to evolve Эволюционирова evolution Эволюция evolutionary Эволюционный
ть
to relate Иметь relation Отношение relative Относительный
отношение
(относиться)
to consume Потреблять consumption Потребление consumable Потребляемый
to prevent Предотвращать prevention Предотвращение preventable Предотвратимый
preventative
to produce Производить production Производство productive Продуктивный
to benefit Приносить benefit Польза beneficial Полезный
пользу
to compare Сравнивать comparison Сравнение comparable Сравнительный
comparative

Exercise 2. Word formation. Complete the sentences using the words from the table in
Exercise 1 in the correct word form.
1. The brain is especially susceptible to iron accumulation with increased oxidative stress and
oxidative damage because of its high rate of oxygen consumption and relatively poor ability to deal with
ROS.
2. Breastfeeding is associated with numerous beneficial effects on the neonate such as providing
protection from infection and diarrhea. /…/ Human milk oligosaccharides are thought benefit the neonate
via various direct and indirect roles. In addition to free oligosaccharides, approximately 70% of human
milk proteins are glycosylated.
3. The importance of crop biodiversity will rise in the near future because of additional qualitative
or quantitative demands on agricultural production. The human population is expected to increase from
7.5 billion in 2017 to 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100. The increase in demand for agricultural
production due to a larger population will be compounded by increased consumption accompanying
greater affluence.
4. During infection to prevent, structural changes in the viral capsid occur to allow entry and
uncoating in target cells.
5. Fresh fruit and vegetables as part of the daily diet are one way to increase ‘health-span’: a longer
healthy life. With advances in understanding the genomics and genetics of crop plants, there is a great
opportunity to enhance key consumer traits: appearance, flavour, health, storage, and convenience. This
may increase consumption of plant products and functional foods with an added dietary benefit. The best-
accepted compounds in fruits and vegetables that affect health are vitamin C, vitamin A, and flavonoids.
In many fresh plant, products the health benefits are located in the skin, leaving a large volume of flesh
ready for ‘improvement’.
6. The rapid modernization of human communities (on an evolution scale) and greater beneficial to
modern medicine have drastically changed our environmental exposures and microbiota composition over
the years.

L.Shevyrdyaeva English for Biology Workbook 1

 7. Selection is the evolutionary process by which the frequency of genetic variation changes in
response to a fitness consequence in the local environment.
8. C. difficile is an opportunistic bacterium that can infect the gut, resulting in the production of
toxins that can cause diarrhoea, dehydration, sepsis and death.

9. Insects to evolved from a hexapod ancestor that was already terrestrial, albeit probably
dependent on moist environments, so it is of interest to examine the extant RELATIVES of this ancestor
in the Collembola, Diplura, and Protura.
10. Nutrient demand by tundra and boreal vegetation has been shown to outstrip nutrient SUPPLY.
Nitrogen is the element most likely to limit plant growth on permafrost soils despite RELATIVELY large
organic nitrogen pools in the active layer and permafrost.
11. Because chronic hypertension is a key risk factor for stroke, myocardial infarction, heart
failure, and kidney failure, the improvement of medical therapies for hypertension is critical to the
reduction of  PREVENTABLE mortality and morbidity.
12. Prebiotics are suggested to provide health BENEFITS through several different mechanisms,
including compositional or metabolic changes to the resident microorganisms, stimulation of growth
and/or activity of putative health-promoting bacteria, and production of short-chain fatty acids.
13. Evidence of the microbiota role in autoimmune and inflammatory disease has been rapidly
increasing over the last decade, creating a wide interest and many new opportunities to use the microbiota
as a therapeutic tool to prevent or REVERSE autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis,
inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, and type 1 diabetes.
14. After activation and differentiation in secondary lymphoid structures, T cells need to enter the
circulation and be able to ACCESS sites of inflammation to mediate effector functions.
15. The fastest and most manoeuvrable terrestrial animals are found in savannah habitats, where
predators chase and capture running prey. Hunt outcome and success rate are critical to survival, so both
predator and prey should EVOLVE to be faster and/or more manoeuvrable. Here we
COMPARE  locomotor characteristics in two pursuit predator–prey pairs, lion–zebra and cheetah–impala,
in their natural savannah habitat in Botswana.
16. The deep ocean will also be affected by global climate change through effects such as
acidification; expansion of oxygen minimum zones; and, in many areas, reductions in surface-
water PRODUCTION and thus food SUPPLY to deep-pelagic and seafloor communities.
17. Bacteria have EVOLVED numerous defense mechanisms against phages that can act before or
after phage infection. Barriers to phage entry into the cell include those prevent phage adsorption or DNA
injection, whereas postinfection barriers include restriction-modification and abortive-infection systems
upon infection.
18. Astrocytes are essential for brain homeostasis, performing a variety of neuroprotective
functions. /…/ Astrocytes can detect injury signals and respond by secreting cytokines and chemokines
and activating immune defenses. They RESPOND to CNS viral infections by increasing expression of
many proteins, most notably GFAP (glial fibrillary acidic protein), and by proliferating in a process
known as astrogliosis.
19. In addition to phototrophy, some algae are capable of heterotrophy and mixotrophy and can
assimilate reduced carbon sources, such as sugars, and ingest bacteria and eukaryotes. Duality as producer
and consumeR, a common strategy for acquiring nutrients in the oceans, was only recently incorporated
into a global simulation of the marine food web. /…/ comparative genomic analyses have also been
performed to gain insight into the use of organic carbon sources in nonphagotrophic algae.
20. The benefitS of regular exercise or physical activity in humans on the heart and other organs in
settings of health and disease are well recognized.
21. To support high metabolic rates, tumour cells consume large quantities of fuels, including
glucose and glutamine, which can lead to the depletion of these fuels from the tumour microenvironment.
22. One notable difference between plant and animal xenophagy is that some animal pathogens
directly invade the cytoplasm, whereas plant counterparts are typically surrounded by a lipid barrier
derived from the plasma membrane and are thus not directly ACCESSIBLE to autophagy.
23. Arthropods have a number of innate antiviral mechanisms but do not produce antibody to
viruses.
24. Humans harbour considerably less archaeal diversity than other great-ape species, again
denoting a decline during hominid evolution.

2 L.Shevyrdyaeva English for Biology Workbook

 25. Autophagy as a source of metabolites, such as free fatty acids, may also be crucial to supply the
energy or macromolecules that are required for differentiation.

Exercise 3. Match the collocations in columns A and B (noun + noun) and then use them to
complete the sentences below.

risk риск emissions выбросы

water воды supply поставка
gas газ factor фактор

1. Bone mineral density, a clinically relevant risk supply for osteoporotic fracture, can be
measured at different skeletal sites and is highly heritable.
2. Growing evidence suggests that conservation of aquatic predators may help reduce natural
greenhouse gas emissions or enhance carbon uptake and storage in aquatic ecosystems.
3. This means that water factor limitations will likely impose greater constraints on future crop
production across diverse growing regions and crop types, increasing the need to understand and improve
water use efficiency.

Exercise 4. Match the collocations in columns A and B (adj + noun) and then use them to
complete the sentences below.

recent increases
urban / rural variation
chronic value
nutritional study
dramatic ancestors
common disease
genetic area(x2)

1. Both low and high temperatures cause genetic variation in the rate of meiotic crossing-over events.
2. Children who always lived in a rural area had significantly higher lifetime exposure to greenness.
3. The pelvic nerves may provide additional parasympathetic innervation to the lower
gastrointestinal tract. However, a recent study argues that these nerves are actually part of the sympathetic
nervous system.
4. The nutritional value of nectar is derived from three simple sugars—sucrose and its component
monosaccharides, glucose and fructose.
5. We restricted our analysis to children who had always lived in an urban area, which suggests that
greenness and vegetation diversity may provide greater protection to urban children, and more greenness
is not simply a proxy for living in a rural area.
6. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) refer to studies that use a statistical approach to
identify dramatic increases within populations that is associated with phenotypic traits.
7. Microbiome analyses can inform disease prognosis in acute and chronic disease states and underlie
the development of probiotic therapies.
8. The algal group is polyphyletic because the most recent common ancestors of all eukaryotic algae
was not an alga, and many algae are more closely related to nonphotosynthetic protists than they are to
other algae.

L.Shevyrdyaeva English for Biology Workbook 3

 Exercise 5. Prepositions. Complete the sentences choosing the correct preposition.
1. To date, the most effective in vitro intervention against epigenetic ageing is achieved through
expression of Yamanaka factors, which convert somatic cells (for / into / on) pluripotent stem cells,
thereby completely resetting the epigenetic clock.
2. Our analysis of the binding of BCAII to benzenesulfonamides substituted (for / with / on) chains
of oligoglycine, oligosarcosine, and oligoethylene glycol demonstrates the potential influence of ligand
dynamics.
3. It is increasingly recognized that regulatory (rather than coding) variants account (for / -- / on)
the majority of the genetic variation underlying complex traits, such as common complex diseases in
humans or economically important traits in plants and animals.
4. Many of the difficulties in manufacturing T cells for immunotherapy arise from the need for
autologous cells. An appealing alternative (for / to / on) this approach would be the use of cells from an
allogeneic T cell bank.
5. Approximately half of the world’s population is (at / on / for) risk of dengue virus infection, with
the majority of cases occurring in tropical and subtropical regions, including Latin America, Southeast
Asia, and India.
6. White blood cells are not a perfect substrate or substitute (for / with / on) studies directly in
lymphoid organs, as several authors have pointed out, but these cells are an abundant resource in almost
every disease cohort and are relatively easy to obtain in healthy individuals.
7. To examine the specificity of enhanced growth on trehalose across C. difficile lineages, 21
strains encompassing 9 ribotypes were grown on a defined minimal medium supplemented (for / with /
to) glucose or trehalose as the sole carbon source.
8. Evidence of size reduction as a consequence of increasing temperature has been reported for
both marine ectotherms and endotherms, regardless (from / -- / of) their life histories or trophic levels.
9. The relative success of extracting DNA from museum specimens preserved in traditional ways
and whether this genetic material is suitable (for / with / on) the study at hand depend (for / with / on)
many factors, many of which remain poorly understood.
10. A novel, socially important direction for research using IQ genome-wide polygenic scores
(GPSs) is to understand differences (in / with / between) intelligence within families. /…/ The average
difference (in / with / between) parents and offspring and between siblings is 13 IQ points.
11. While the effects of excessive alcohol (for / -- / on) the brain and hepatobiliary system garner
the greatest attention, the impact of alcohol (for / -- / on) the structure and metabolic phenotype of striated
muscle— both skeletal and cardiac—has been recognized for more than half a century and adversely
affects (for / -- / on) morbidity and mortality.
12. The world demand (for / with / on) animal-based food products is anticipated to increase by
70% by 2050.
13. Human studies examining memory integration benefit (from / -- / for) applying sophisticated
functional MRI (fMRI) tools to brain images acquired during specific behavioral memory tasks.
14. Altered DNA methylation levels have also been observed in corals subject (for / with / to)
ocean acidification conditions and nutrient stress and (in / at / for) response to changes in salinity in fish
and heavy metals in fish and other marine organisms.
15. Avian biology is radically different than that of other living reptiles. Crocodylians are the
closest extant relatives of birds according (for / -- / to) both morphological and molecular phylogenetics.
16. Thus far, efforts in editing the genome of livestock have mostly concentrated (for / to / on)
largely uncontroversial human health applications, such as generating animal models of human genetic
diseases, producing biopharmaceuticals and xenotransplantation.

4 L.Shevyrdyaeva English for Biology Workbook

 Exercise 6. Complete the sentences with the appropriate words from the box.

rate(x2) patterns majority model shortage

concentration(x3) component proportion amount area
number(x2) pattern advantage(x2) range

1. By 2025, aquaculture will need to increase by 350% worldwide to cover the impending seafood
shortage, and by 2030 an additional 29 million tonnes of fish will be needed for human consumption.
Unfortunately, the United States is the leading global importer of fish and fishery products, and 91% of
the seafood consumed by value is imported, resulting in a trade deficit, which is increasing every year and
is now $11.2 billion annually. The United States is not in a position to take advantage of the opportunity
of the expanding global market of aquaculture-grown fish, including catfish.
2. The major emphasis in microbiome studies has been on their bacterial constituents; however,
microbiomes contain many other types of microorganisms. Archaea are recognized as a regular
component of gut microbiomes, yet their frequencies, relative to those of bacteria, are so low that their
presence is often disregarded.
3. Crops fulfill the vast majority of global food requirements for both humans and livestock.
However, projected increases in population will require the production of more nitrogen (N) fertilizer to
support crops, which will consume an even greater proportion of currently available fresh water and
energy, a difficult problem known as the energy–water–food nexus.
4. In line with this finding, a mathematical model of metastases formation suggests that the
probability of observing intermetastatic heterogeneity (which results from distinct clones in the primary
tumour seeding different metastatic sites) increases when the primary tumour grows slowly. Intriguingly,
gradually evolving tumours were also associated with a specific pattern of metastatic progression, termed
oligometastases. Oligometastases, defined as a small number of lesions confined to a single site, are
conceptualized as an intermediate state of metastatic capacity with an important clinical implication for
directed, potentially curative treatment for such lesions.
5. Transcriptomics refers to a global approach for looking at gene expression advantage. This can
involve measurements of thousands of genes simultaneously with microarrays or measurements of small
numbers of genes that are facilitated by global sequence information from expressed sequence tag or
genomesequencing projects.
6. Progesterone directs adipose tissue (and to a lesser extent muscle) to enter a long-term (days or
months depending on species, but usually extending for one-half to three-fourths of the pregnancy)
anabolic phase, increasing the amount of triglyceride storage, which is not dependent solely on intake.
That is, the mother will get fat to some extent, even in periods of limited food supply. The evolutionary
advantage of this seems obvious: to ensure that there will be sufficient energy for late fetal development
and lactation. Species variation is a good example here in that widely disparate mammals, such as deer,
rodents, seals, and whales, will increase body fat by up to 20% to 40% during pregnancy, whereas
domesticated animals may increase in the range of 10% to 20%. In any case, this fat provides greater
assurance of survival.
7. Although there is general agreement that total forest area is shrinking across the tropics, there is
considerable controversy as to whether the rate of loss is increasing or decreasing. /…/ It is therefore
likely that the rate of deforestation in the tropics is increasing.
8. Alcohol-induced decreases in muscle protein synthesis could be mediated by a decreased
concentration of anabolic hormones (e.g., insulin, growth factors, and testosterone) or an increased
concentration of catabolic hormones (glucocorticoids). /…/ An overwhelming number of studies indicate
that acute and chronic alcohol ingestion either does not significantly alter or slightly increases the plasma
insulin concentration in humans and rodents.

L.Shevyrdyaeva English for Biology Workbook 5

 Exercise 7. Causal link. Complete the sentences with the appropriate words from the box.

account lead causes associated

Text A.
Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes mellitus, (1)
account for >70% of early deaths worldwide, thus representing the leading cause of mortality and
premature disability. Obesity — a major risk factor for NCDs — is (2) associated with decreased life
expectancy of an estimated 5–20 years lost depending on the severity of the condition and comorbid
disorders. The WHO defines obesity as excessive fat accumulation that might impair health and is
diagnosed at a BMI ≥30 kg/m2.
Obesity substantially increases the risk of metabolic diseases (for example type 2 diabetes mellitus and
fatty liver disease), cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, myocardial infarction and stroke),
musculoskeletal disease (osteoarthritis), Alzheimer disease, depression and some types of cancer (for
example, breast, ovarian, prostate, liver, kidney and colon). In addition, obesity might (3) lead to reduced
quality of life, unemployment, lower productivity and social disadvantages. For example, osteoarthritis —
a common consequence of obesity — is one of the leading (4) causes of disability and early retirement.
Importantly, the World Obesity Federation and other organizations, including the American and Canadian
Medical Associations, have declared obesity a chronic progressive disease clearly distinct from being just
a risk factor for other diseases.

account results

Text B.
Given that polyploids (1) results for a significant portion of current angiosperm diversity (estimated
between 10% and 40%), understanding how genome duplication influences the probability that beneficial
mutations are seen by selection is a key question in plant evolution. Aside from differences in mutational
target size between target site and nontarget site genetic architectures of resistance, mutational target size
may differ between organisms owing to increased genome copy number (i.e., polyploidy). The increased
mutational target size alone (2) account in established polyploids harboring more polymorphism, with a
larger expected collection of beneficial mutations from which adaptation can occur but also a higher
deleterious mutational load (with load scaling by μ × ploidy level).

account causing lead drive

Text C.
Forests (1) account for approximately 45% of global terrestrial carbon stocks and have a key role in
hydrological and nutrient cycles. They also provide a wide array of ecosystem services and are vital for
maintenance of biodiversity. While forests continue to face pressure from expanding human populations,
which (2) causing changes in land use and deforestation, the threat posed by climate change is less easily
quantified. Evidence from a range of sources suggests that rising atmospheric CO 2 concentrations have
benefited forests, with CO2 fertilization enabling an increased leaf area index, enhanced water-use
efficiency and greater uptake of carbon globally. However, extreme climate events, such as heat waves,
droughts, fires and storms, have the potential to offset these benefits, (3) drive widespread tree mortality
and a net loss of CO2 into the atmosphere. Although forests are vulnerable to a wide range of extreme
climate events, drought and associated disturbances have the greatest effect globally. Recent projections
indicate that land surface warming may (4) lead to longer and more intense droughts, which has focused
concern on this area of research and the need for accurate predictions of the effects of drought on forest
ecosystems.

associated responsible

6 L.Shevyrdyaeva English for Biology Workbook

Text D.
During normal aging, DHA levels have been found to decrease in neuronal membranes, with some
speculation that suboptimal DHA levels are partially (1) responsible for the decline in memory and
learning that often occurs with age. Promising experimental results have indicated that DHA dietary
supplementation in aged rodents was sufficient to restore DHA levels. Animals on DHA supplements
showed improved maze-learning ability, increased dendritic spine numbers, and increased choline and
acetylcholine levels, suggesting at least the possibility of dietary intervention in humans. Interestingly,
DHA levels are found to be significantly lower in the hippocampus of brains from (postmortem)
Alzheimer’s patients, compared with age-matched controls. Additionally, epidemiological studies found
that high intake of dietary saturated fats was (2) associated with an increased risk of developing
Alzheimer’s disease, while high dietary intake of PUFAs lowered the apparent risk. DHA
supplementation is also beneficial in rodent transgenic Alzheimer’s disease models, with results showing
a 40–50% decrease in beta amyloid accumulation and improved learning. More importantly, in rodents,
interventions of DHA supplementation before disease manifestation prevented decline in memory
function.

L.Shevyrdyaeva English for Biology Workbook 7

 Exercise 8. Grammar. Passives. Choose the correct form of the verb.
1. Extrinsic apoptosis triggers / is triggered by the activation of death receptors.
2. Universal PCR for detection of bacteria and fungi has now adopted / been adopted in many
hospital laboratories and has increased the number and proportion of infectious diagnoses.
3. Mitochondria may damage / be damaged by reactive oxygen species (ROS) that generate / are
generated through malfunction of the respiratory transport chain or by defective mitochondrial proteins
that can accumulate / be accumulated over time.
4. The first empirical support for this hypothesis provided / was provided by two recent
phylogenetic studies that reconstructed the evolutionary timing of events.
5. The role of the vagus nerve in providing protection during systemic inflammation suggested /
was suggested by experiments using surgical vagotomy.
6. Natural killer (NK) cells are important effector lymphocytes that are best characterized for their
antiviral and anticancer activities. They are potent producers of the cytokine IFNγ and can directly kill /
be killed target cells through cytotoxic mechanisms. NK cell responses can detect / be detected very
rapidly after infection, and they have historically been considered as cells of the innate immune system.
7. Today, genome sequencing often conducts / is often conducted on groups of closely related
species within genera, and these comparisons, especially for species with disparate complexity of
chemical ecologies, will further illuminate the complex processes of gene family evolution that underlie
gene family size differences.
8. Greenbug-resistance sources have been difficult to find in hexaploid wheat, and most resistance
has identified / has been identified in related species. Sorghum germplasm resistant to greenbug
biotypes C, E, I, and K has been released, and sorghum cultivars incorporating this germplasm have been
developed and widely deployed in the southern Great Plains. Often more than 50% of the acreage plants /
is planted with resistant cultivars.
9. Nutrition has long considered / been considered an important factor determining the body size
of insects.
10. Sequencing of the African rice genome has provided / has been provided key insights into the
genes underlying parallel evolution of domestication traits.
11. Light also reaches belowground tissues because stems and roots act as bundles of optical fibers
that efficiently conduct / are conducted light over long distances. Although light conducts / is
conducted primarily by the vascular tissue, it also spreads into the adjacent pith and cortical tissues,
allowing belowground tissues to transmit light, and particularly far-red light.
12. Colorectal cancer is the third-most common form of cancer. In addition to genetic factors,
environmental factors such as radiation, chemical carcinogens, and diet contribute / are contributed to
tumorigenesis in the colon. Current treatments are associated with a high risk of complications and low
success rate. Investigators have suggested / have been suggested that by maintaining a healthy weight,
diet, and physical activity, up to one-third of colon cancers may prevent / be prevented.
13. The gene provides resistance by promoting cellulose synthesis in a way that strengthens the
plant and reduces / is reduced its height without reducing yield.
14. To estimate reef growth capacity under future sea-level rise, we calculated / were calculated
mean increases in water depth above reefs using a large dataset of reef carbonate budget data collected
from more than 200 reefs around two major reef-building regions, the tropical western Atlantic and the
Indian Ocean. These data, based on in situ ecological metrics, collected / were collected between 2009
and 2017. /…/ In the Indian Ocean, the highest contemporary budgets were calculated on reefs in
Mozambique (4.78 ± 5.01 G) and Ningaloo, Australia (2.46 ± 2.01 G). The lowest (and net negative) rates
were calculated at the Seychelles (−1.51 ± 1.90 G) and Maldives sites (−2.98 ± 1.30 G).
15. The fields of One Health and digital epidemiology are increasingly overlapping. For example,
human movement can reveal / be revealed by mobile phone data or by the patterns of lighted cities at
night, hunting data collected by states can reveal / be revealed interactions between humans and wildlife,
and social media and digital news sources can reveal / be revealed early signals of famine, war and other
social unrest.

8 L.Shevyrdyaeva English for Biology Workbook

 Exercise 9. Lexical cloze. Complete these sentences choosing the correct variant A, B, С or D.

The foods that could save Europe’s water and boost Europeans’ health
A plant-rich diet has a smaller ‘water footprint’ than one based on meat feasts.
The (1) amount of water required to (2) produce food across large swathes of Europe could fall
significantly if (3) local people improved their diets.
Vegetarian (4) diets, with or without seafood, require (5) substantially less water to produce than
diets containing fresh meat and meat (6) products such as sausages. Davy Vanham and his colleagues at
the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy, (7) determined the amount of water
needed to produce the food and alcoholic beverages (8) consumed in each of some 44,000 administrative
districts (9) across the United Kingdom, France and Germany.
The authors found that if people adhered to national (10) dietary guidelines — which generally
recommend balanced meals rich in fruit, vegetables and grains — each district’s dietary ‘water footprint’
would fall (11) by 11–55%, depending (12) on regional eating habits.
A mix of approaches, including health-information campaigns and regulatory measures, may be
needed to stimulate dietary shifts (13) beneficial for both human health and the environment, the authors
say. (From Nature, September 10, 2018, Original paper was published in Nature Sustain. (2018))

A B C D
1. amount number proportion rate
2. produce production products produced
3. locate location local located
4. calories diets dietary nutrients
5. dramatically bigger particularly substantially
6. produce production products produced
7. published observes suggested determined
8. consume consumption consumed consumes
9. within through along across
10. calories diets dietary nutrients
11. from to on by
12. from to on by
13. benefit benefits benefited beneficial

L.Shevyrdyaeva English for Biology Workbook 9

 Exercise 10. Lexical cloze. Complete these sentences choosing the correct variant A, B, С or
D.

Although seminal epidemiological data pertaining to the effect of alcohol have been obtained in
humans, there is a (1) relative scarcity of human studies investigating alcohol’s effect (2) on muscle, and
there are essentially no human studies (3) on cellular mechanisms for the (4) development of alcoholic
myopathy. This paucity of human studies originates from the difficulty in quantitating and controlling the
(5) amount, type, pattern, and duration of alcohol intake in addition to the inability to tightly control (6)
nutritional, genetic, and environmental differences that may impact (7) -- outcomes. Hence, most of the
available data in this area are derived from preclinical rodent models that appear to mimic the clinical
condition. In general, chronic (8) consumption is most frequently modeled in rats and mice by including
alcohol either in the drinking water or as part of a nutritionally complete liquid diet. These models (9)
produce clinically relevant increases in the blood alcohol concentration (BAC). While each of these
methods has advantages and disadvantages, it is noteworthy that all chronic alcohol models include time-
matched control animals that are pair-fed an isocaloric, isonitrogenous (10) diet without alcohol. Thus,
differences (11) in the metabolic phenotype of muscle (12) between alcohol-fed and control animals are
most likely the result of alcohol and/or one of its oxidative metabolites (e.g., acetaldehyde). However,
alcohol may also influence (13) -- the digestion and absorption of select (14) nutrients, and as this
variable is not routinely monitored, its contribution to the development of myopathy in animals (15)
consuming an alcohol-containing diet for several months cannot be excluded. (Kimball, S. R., & Lang, C.
H. (2018). Mechanisms Underlying Muscle Protein Imbalance Induced by Alcohol. Annual Review of
Nutrition, 38(1), 197–217.doi:10.1146/annurev-nutr-071816-064642)

A B C D
1. relate related relation relative
2. -- in on for
3. -- in on for
4. develop development developing developed
5. amount number proportion ratio
6. calories diet nutrition nutritional
7. -- in on for
8. consume consumption consumed consuming
9. produce production products produced
10. calories diet dietary nutrients
11. between in on by
12. between in on by
13. -- in on for
14. calories diet dietary nutrients
15. consume consumption consumed consuming

10 L.Shevyrdyaeva English for Biology Workbook

 Exercise 11. Discourse cloze. Read the article and choose from the list A-I the best phrase
given below to fill each of the spaces 1-7. Two suggested answers do not fit at all.

Diet and evolution

Modern humans may be evolving to deal with carbohydrate-rich diets
A new version of an old gene is spreading through the gene pool
It is easy to assume that the long march of evolution has halted in modern man—that the safe,
disease-free lives people now lead mean natural selection no longer operates on much of Homo sapiens. It
is an attractive idea. Frances Brodsky of University College, London and her colleagues, however, beg to
differ. A paper they have just published in eLife suggests that diet, at least, is still a selective pressure.
Dr Brodsky and her team study proteins called clathrins. These are involved in a range of matters
physiological, but one of the molecules the team is investigating, encoded by a gene called CLTCL1, is
(1) concerned with the regulation of blood-sugar levels. CLTCL1 comes in two forms, one more efficient
than the other at (2) encouraging the removal of glucose from the blood. The team decided to look into
the evolutionary history behind this.
To do so they analysed the relevant DNA in 2,504 human genomes taken from a database called
the 1000 Genomes Project. This project has collected samples (3) from 26 human populations around the
world. They also looked at chimpanzee DNA, and at fossil DNA from two extinct species of human,
Neanderthals and Denisovans.
Putting all this information together they deduced two things. First, just under half of people alive
today carry the more efficient version of the gene. Second, this version is also a more recent version of
the gene. It seems to have started spreading during the Neolithic—the moment (4) when humans started
farming cereals.
Dr Brodsky suspects this is no coincidence. A cereal-based diet is (5) far richer in carbohydrates
than the diet of a hunter-gatherer. Once digested, those carbs will end up as glucose in the bloodstream.
An inability to control high blood sugar is known as diabetes. And diabetes can be fatal. So a better way
of removing glucose from the blood and into storage cells will be favoured by natural selection. A gene
variant encouraging this would probably spread quite rapidly through a population of farmers.
There is, in fact, already one known example of something similar having happened—the
persistence into adulthood of the ability to digest lactose, a sugar found in milk. Human children produce
an enzyme, lactase, that lets them do this. Usually, this capacity is lost in adults. But populations
descended from those that (6) domesticated milk-producing animals such as goats and cattle often retain
lactose-digestion into adulthood.
Whether the efficient form of CLTCL1 really is still becoming more abundant—and people are thus
evolving—is impossible to say at the moment. One thing which remains to be confirmed is that those
with the less effective version actually do have problems (7) regulating their blood-sugar levels. If that
turns out to be true, though, and given that even today diabetes kills many people, the chances are good
that this piece of evolution is still a work in progress. (From The Economist, June 8th 2019)

A. encouraging the removal of glucose from the blood

B. strongly determined by their metabolism
C. when humans started farming cereals
D. domesticated milk-producing animals
E. concerned with the regulation of blood-sugar levels
F. protein and energy supplies in the diet
G. from 26 human populations around the world
H. far richer in carbohydrates
I. regulating their blood-sugar levels

L.Shevyrdyaeva English for Biology Workbook 1

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