3 ms·
> as the mRNA is not reverse transcribed into DNA and reintegrated into the genome Why not? Just because it doesn't match up, or is there a deeper reason?
by sgfyd 6y ago
> as the mRNA is not reverse transcribed into DNA and reintegrated into the genome
Why not? Just because it doesn't match up, or is there a deeper reason?
- rolph 6y agoan enzyme called reverse transcriptase or its equivalent is required, the HIV virus and a number of other retrovirii do this, and implant thier code into the host DNA. eukaryotes use splicing mechanisms that copy/delete/replicate DNA from one locus to another, this is more reliable as mRNA are unstable and become damaged quickly. cytoplasmic mRNA is not of fidelity and does not reverse compile into the dna sourcecode, or it would produce massive errors and corrupt the DNA.
- nicwilson 6y agobecause thats not what mRNA and normal cellular processes do and there is no mechanism in the body to allow that to happen. Reverse transcription only happens when a reverse transcriptase (found in retro-viruses, e.g. HIV-1, HIV-2, Hepatitis B Virus etc) does that and the RNA is the direct viral genome or a transcript of the viral DNA (for DNA viruses). They have special marker sequences at either end to facilitate this (search for terminal repeats) SARS-CoV-2 is not a retrovirus.