Re: Coronavirus
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheDaddy
(Post 36062997)
Spike protein according to the egg head on the radio yesterday, it's the way viruses hijack cells and apparently it's easier for the mutant. Tbh I'm just a simple guy, very simple some would say but isn't this the logical advancement, a virus that is easier to transmit but less deadly to the host?
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The spike protein is the virus' skeleton key - it 'unlocks' the target cell so the virus can get inside. Once inside it can set about turning the cell into a virus factory. The new variant virus has a more efficient design of spike protein that is more effective at unlocking target cells in the human body.
In a sense the most evolved virus would happily reside in a host body without damaging it or worse, killing it, but as a virus damages a host in the very act of turning host cells into virus factories in reality what it really needs is to be highly contagious, but not rapidly fatal. As long as it can spread to as many other people as possible without killing its host or incapacitating the host so the host doesn't come into contact with other potential hosts, the virus could be said to be doing very well. |
