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I’ve seen the spikes mentioned a lot. Are these mechanical descriptions of how the spikes operate dumbed down for the average person to understand? Im surprised

I’ve seen the spikes mentioned a lot. Are these mechanical descriptions of how the spikes operate dumbed down for the average person to understand? Im surprised we don’t hear more about biologically destroying the cells instead.

PartiallyTyped 4y ago
My background on this comes from a neuroscience course in gradschool. The idea is that molecules and proteins “bind” to receptors which cause a cascade of reactions. The binding depends on the shape of the proteins and receptors. A bridge like protein is created by removing parts of the spike protein through the cascade. The bridge connects the virus and the cell, and folds into itself to cause the two cells to merge. https://youtu.be/Xuc9D4LVJdg https://youtu.be/Xuc9D4LVJdg I am not sure why it is called spike but I’d guess it’s because it looks like tiny spikes on the virus. So when what we do with mRNA vaccines is produce the mRNA that encodes this protein, and wrap it in lipids which allow it to enter the cells and the cells manufacture it. Now, our cells don’t naturally produce the spike protein, so this triggers our immune system to build antibodies which bind onto the proteins and render them useless, or flags for certain parts of our immune system. This results in increased production of certain cells and proteins for this specific protein. Our immune system has the capacity to create antibodies for and bind onto all sorts of different proteins. This is because it the immune system is allowed to recombine and order its DNA. In order to avoid wrecking havoc at our own body, the immune system passes through filters which filter out proteins that would bind to the naturally occurring proteins in our body.
jeffdn 4y ago
No, coronavirus and many other viruses have spike proteins, that look a bit like spikes[0]. [0]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_protein https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_protein
maxerickson 4y ago
It isn't entirely understood, but the actual shapes of the molecules matter, so there is at least some mechanical analogy.
- User23 4y ago
  Van der Waals force[1] is sort of midway between chemical and mechanical interaction. We think of proteins as crystals because that’s how we can image them, but really they’re sort of floppy things that can often change their shape dynamically in response to forces and then exert different forces because of that. This leads to all kinds of interesting feedback loops. The polarity of the water molecules they’re floating around in plays a role too. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_der_Waals_force https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_der_Waals_force

PartiallyTyped 4y ago

My background on this comes from a neuroscience course in gradschool. The idea is that molecules and proteins “bind” to receptors which cause a cascade of reactions. The binding depends on the shape of the proteins and receptors. A bridge like protein is created by removing parts of the spike protein through the cascade. The bridge connects the virus and the cell, and folds into itself to cause the two cells to merge. https://youtu.be/Xuc9D4LVJdg https://youtu.be/Xuc9D4LVJdg I am not sure why it is called spike but I’d guess it’s because it looks like tiny spikes on the virus. So when what we do with mRNA vaccines is produce the mRNA that encodes this protein, and wrap it in lipids which allow it to enter the cells and the cells manufacture it. Now, our cells don’t naturally produce the spike protein, so this triggers our immune system to build antibodies which bind onto the proteins and render them useless, or flags for certain parts of our immune system. This results in increased production of certain cells and proteins for this specific protein. Our immune system has the capacity to create antibodies for and bind onto all sorts of different proteins. This is because it the immune system is allowed to recombine and order its DNA. In order to avoid wrecking havoc at our own body, the immune system passes through filters which filter out proteins that would bind to the naturally occurring proteins in our body.

jeffdn 4y ago

No, coronavirus and many other viruses have spike proteins, that look a bit like spikes[0]. [0]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_protein https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_protein

maxerickson 4y ago

It isn't entirely understood, but the actual shapes of the molecules matter, so there is at least some mechanical analogy.

User23 4y ago
Van der Waals force[1] is sort of midway between chemical and mechanical interaction. We think of proteins as crystals because that’s how we can image them, but really they’re sort of floppy things that can often change their shape dynamically in response to forces and then exert different forces because of that. This leads to all kinds of interesting feedback loops. The polarity of the water molecules they’re floating around in plays a role too. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_der_Waals_force https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_der_Waals_force