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New Discovery Shows Human Cells Can Write RNA Sequences into DNA
- freddiemerkury 5y agoI've heard repeatedly this last year that mRNA vaccines can't interact with DNA. Does this new discovery have any implications for the current Covid19 vaccines?
- asimjalis 5y agoThat was my first though on reading the headline as well. The article does not explore this possibility. It neither confirms nor denies.
- eesmith 5y agoGenome analysis shows "approximately 98,000 ERV elements and fragments making up 5–8%" of the human genome - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endogenous_retrovirus#Human_endogenous_retroviruses https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endogenous_retrovirus#Human_en... and only "one family of viruses has been active since the divergence of humans and chimpanzees. ... HERV-K". If the body regularly incorporated foreign RNA into the genome then I would see a much higher rate of incorporation in the genome. The paper only discusses DNA synthesis from RNA. Retroviruses need more than DNA synthesis. They also need a way to get the DNA to the nucleus and into the genome. HIV uses retroviral integrase for the latter. So, if by "interact with DNA" you mean "changes the genome", then this paper changes nothing. ("Interact" is a very broad word; water interacts with DNA because water molecules bump into it all the time.)
- mrzimmerman 5y agoI don’t think the blog actually represents the research is barely links to.