Viruses against Humanity: past, present and future by Samuel Greenberg

Author:Samuel Greenberg [Greenberg, Samuel]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, pdf
Published: 2020-04-11T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8. Where did the coronavirus come from?

Coronavirus looks like a ball with numerous spiky processes. The processes of coronaviruses serve to attach the virus to the cell and introduce viral RNA into it (coronaviruses belong to RNA-containing viruses). Just like that, on the go, a virus cannot throw its RNA or DNA into a cell. It is necessary to establish a reliable connection, adhere to the cell surface qualitatively and make a hole in it through which the genetic material of the virus, its nucleic acid, enters the cell.

Coronaviruses have their own way of introducing into the cell, which is very effective and, so to speak, insidious. Spiky formations contain protein molecules that mimic the molecules of nutrients that are allowed to enter the cell. To carry these substances in the cell membranes, there are special receptor proteins whose molecules penetrate the membranes through, and therefore such proteins are called transmembrane. Receptors capture the necessary substances on the outer surface of the membrane and seem to drag them inward.

Fake proteins located in the processes of the coronavirus bind to the protein receptors of the cells, and then push these receptors into the cell. Through the channel formed as a result of this bursting, viral RNA enters the cell.

In all cells without exception, there are factories for the production of proteins necessary for cells, which are called ribosomes. Ribosomes look like spherical formations that do not have their own separate membranes. In essence, ribosomes are an accumulation of RNA molecules synthesizing proteins from amino acids, in accordance with the information recorded in the RNA matrix, which is a copy from the “hereditary” DNA or RNA molecule. RNA matrices are needed because only one set of matrices is transmitted by inheritance to the cell, and the number of ribosomes in the cell can reach tens of millions.

Coronavirus RNA is introduced into the ribosome of the cell and starts the assembly of its copies and viral proteins. The structure of viral RNA and DNA is such that the cell takes them for their own matrices and the copying of viruses occurs without hindrance, unimpeded if the virus can suppress the cellular mechanisms of antiviral protection. These mechanisms work in two directions. First, virus-infected cells begin to produce signaling proteins called interferons. Interferons switch healthy cells surrounding the infected into an antiviral regimen, and also stimulate the body's immune system. Secondly, the damage caused by the multiplication of the virus can trigger the early process of death of the affected cell, something like its suicide (the virus cannot multiply in a dead cell). Some viruses can act as peculiar resuscitators: they cause malfunctions in the cellular self-destruction program, thereby prolonging the life of the affected cell. Viruses can produce proteins that bind to and block receptors that trigger the process of cell death, or they can block enzymes that destroy cellular structures with other proteins.

It’s not enough to be able to infiltrate the cell; you also need to survive in it. All pathogenic viruses are able to suppress cellular antiviral protection.

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