Notorious 1930s gangster¹ John Dillinger was willing to suffer excruciating pain to burn his fingerprints³ off with acid so they could not be used to link him to crime scenes.

1930年代，臭名昭著的恶棍约翰·迪林格愿意忍受极度的痛苦用酸液将指纹腐蚀掉，这样将无法在犯罪现场找到他的痕迹。 But for most of us, having no fingerprints would be a nightmare, causing problems at border control and when proving our identity. 但对于我们大多数人来说，没有指纹将会是一场噩梦。会给边境管制带来麻烦，会很难证明身份。 Called adermatoglyphia or Immigration Delay Disease, the condition means sufferers are born without any grooves⁴ or patterns on their fingers. “皮纹病”或“入境延期病”的患者，生来手指肚上就没有任何凹槽纹路。 The condition first came to the attention of the medical community when a Swiss woman tried to cross the border into the United States, which requires non-citizens to be fingerprinted⁵ upon entry. Border control personnel were mystified when the woman told them she could not comply because she did not have fingerprints. 这一情况第一次引起医学界的重视是一位瑞士的女士试图入境美国的时候。入境是需要采集非本国公民的指纹的。而令边境管制人员感到迷惑的是，这位女士告诉他们，她没法遵守这项规定，因为她没有指纹。 New findings by Professor Eli Sprecher of Tel Aviv University's Faculty⁶ of Medicine and the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center show that a genetic⁷ mutation⁸ is responsible for this unusual condition. 特拉维夫大学Sackler医学院的Eli Sprecher教授和特拉维夫Sourasky医疗中心表示，造成这一不寻常现象的原因是基因突变。 She and nine members of her family who also have no fingerprints underwent a genetic analysis. Scientists at Tel Aviv University compared the genes⁹ of those with the condition to those without, to identify where the genetic alteration¹⁰ lies. 她和她同样没有指纹的9个家庭成员进行了一次遗传分析。特拉维夫大学的科学家们对比了成员中有指纹和无指纹的人们的基因，从而找出基因突变的地方。 They discovered a skin-specific version of the gene SMARCAD1 influences fingerprint² development. The people without fingerprints were found to have lower levels of the gene related to skin development. 他们发现了SMARCAD1基因的皮肤特异版，这是影响指纹发展的基因。据发现，指纹缺失的人们拥有较少的和皮肤发展相关的基因。 In addition to an absence of fingerprints, the condition also leads to a reduction in the number of sweat glands¹¹. Abnormal fingerprints can also be a warning sign of more severe disorders¹². 除了没有指纹，这种情况还会导致汗腺数量的减少。异常的指纹也是一个对更严重疾病的警告。 Like DNA¹³, fingerprints are unique to each person or set of identical twins and that makes them a valuable identification tool. They are used for identification because they are fully formed 24 weeks after fertilisation and do not change throughout our lives. Having no fingerprints would really be a nightmare for most of us. 像DNA一样，每一个人、每一对同卵双胞胎的指纹都是独一无二的，这使得指纹成为一项非常重要的身份证明工具。之所以指纹被用来识别身份，是因为在受精完成24周后指纹就会完全形成，并且在人此后的一生都不会改变。对大多数人来说，没有指纹真的会是一场噩梦。