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mRNA vaccines don't meddle with your DNA. They inject mRNA in to cells that _temporarily_ instruct the cell to produce a specific protein. Once the mRNA is exha

mRNA vaccines don't meddle with your DNA. They inject mRNA in to cells that _temporarily_ instruct the cell to produce a specific protein. Once the mRNA is exhausted, the cell stops producing that protein.

Zababa 5y ago
So in that case the mRNA is more like printer ink than like a blueprint? Or both at the same time? Is it possible for a cell to still produce the protein when it runs out of mRNA?
- nicktelford 5y ago
  I'm not an expert in this but... If DNA is like a blueprint, mRNA is like an email sent from the architect to the contractor to instruct them to carry out specific work.
- pjc50 5y ago
  It's a print _job_. The cell is printing more bits of cell all the time, we just slip in some extra messages that print foreign proteins. The immune system identifies the proteins as foreign and produces antibodies to destroy them, which primes it to destroy matching COVID viruses.
  - m00x 5y ago
    As an ex-biologist, this is the best analogy. mRNA is "messaging" RNA. It sends the message to the protein factory to make more of a protein structure defined by the DNA, just like a print job sends the message to the printer.
- sp332 5y ago
  If DNA is a blueprint, mRNA is a photocopy that's used as a working memory of it for a ribosome to use while making a protein. It's chemically unstable and soon falls apart. (The individual nucleotides night be recycled into other mRNA strands that the cells make.) Since the vaccine mRNA does not have any corresponding DNA to make more copies from, that's the end of it.
  - Zababa 5y ago
    > It's chemically unstable and soon falls apart. Thanks, that was the part that the others answers didn't cover.
- chriswarbo 5y ago
  The "ink" would be amino acids that are always floating around in the cell, the "printer" would be a ribosome. The mRNA would be something like the print buffer that stores the currently printing document. DNA would be the document file stored on disk.

Zababa 5y ago

So in that case the mRNA is more like printer ink than like a blueprint? Or both at the same time? Is it possible for a cell to still produce the protein when it runs out of mRNA?

nicktelford 5y ago
I'm not an expert in this but... If DNA is like a blueprint, mRNA is like an email sent from the architect to the contractor to instruct them to carry out specific work.
pjc50 5y ago
It's a print _job_. The cell is printing more bits of cell all the time, we just slip in some extra messages that print foreign proteins. The immune system identifies the proteins as foreign and produces antibodies to destroy them, which primes it to destroy matching COVID viruses.
- m00x 5y ago
  As an ex-biologist, this is the best analogy. mRNA is "messaging" RNA. It sends the message to the protein factory to make more of a protein structure defined by the DNA, just like a print job sends the message to the printer.
sp332 5y ago
If DNA is a blueprint, mRNA is a photocopy that's used as a working memory of it for a ribosome to use while making a protein. It's chemically unstable and soon falls apart. (The individual nucleotides night be recycled into other mRNA strands that the cells make.) Since the vaccine mRNA does not have any corresponding DNA to make more copies from, that's the end of it.
- Zababa 5y ago
  > It's chemically unstable and soon falls apart. Thanks, that was the part that the others answers didn't cover.
chriswarbo 5y ago
The "ink" would be amino acids that are always floating around in the cell, the "printer" would be a ribosome. The mRNA would be something like the print buffer that stores the currently printing document. DNA would be the document file stored on disk.