To explore the matter, they grew laboratory cultures of the sorts of epithelial cells that line human airways and monitored their gene-expression profiles when exposed to LasB, a toxic enzyme produced by the bacterium.

为探究这一问题，他们在实验室人体呼吸内的各种胞，并监测它们在接触LasB时的基因表达谱，LasB是一种由菌产生的有毒酶。