Inside LS9’s cluttered laboratory — funded by $20 million of sta

Inside LS9’s cluttered laboratory — funded by $20 million of start-up capital from investors including Vinod Khosla, the Indian-American entrepreneur who co-founded Sun Micro-systems — Mr. Pal explains that LS9’s bugs are single-cell organisms, each a fraction of a billionth the size of an ant. They start out as industrial yeast or nonpathogenic strains of E. coli, but LS9 modifies them by custom-designing their DNA.『“Five to seven years ago, that process would have taken months and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he says. “Now it can take weeks and cost maybe $20,000.”』
【正确答案】：“5至7年前，这个过程要几个月的时间，而且要花费几十万美元。”他说，“现在，可能只需要几个星期，大概花费2万美元。”他说。