4 ms·
You don't want RNA anyway, you want to turn the virus's RNA sequence into a DNA sequence (reverse transcription), then do whatever editing you want once that's
by Vecr 3y ago
You don't want RNA anyway, you want to turn the virus's RNA sequence into a DNA sequence (reverse transcription), then do whatever editing you want once that's in your computer, then synthesize the DNA, and grow up the virus in culture by introducing the DNA. The cells in the cell culture will turn the DNA into RNA for you and then assemble the viruses.
- XorNot 3y agoAlso the whole "testing" part. Unless you're just culturing an already known virus (in which case, why do you need to synthesize anything? You have it in a test tube or something) then there is not in fact any real way to know whether or not some particular genetic modification translates to any type of favorable property. Even gene-linked desirable traits in one species may not correspond to that trait in another, particularly when your metrics are things like "transmissivity" and "lethality" and not "I need slightly more peas per pod".