The EMA Covid-19 data leak, and what it tells us about mRNA instability

Re:The EMA Covid-19 data leak, and what it tells us about mR... by tobmlt on Wednesday March 17, 2021 @10:30AM (#26491744)

The large sample size in cross section is not compelling to me - On its on - over a short duration of time. Because I know nothing about long term possibilities from that.

The statistics as derived from the dynamics of “how rna works” - yeah that’s compelling.

This:

“If an mRNA mutation were to make a self-replicating virus, or make something which damages DNA leading to cancer, or something wonky like that, I guess that's in abstract possible. It can make abstract proteins, and we don't know what those will do.”

Sounds astronomically I likely, but with unknown error bars. Sounds like our If our cross section test Is large enough going on long enough, we might just get there.

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Re:The EMA Covid-19 data leak, and what it tells us about mR... by omegaworks on Wednesday March 17, 2021 @01:22PM (#26494224)

Given that the mRNA in the vaccine encodes for just a single protein of a given virus, it seems totally impossible to get an entire virus out of an error. :)

A prion (misfolded protein that causes other proteins to misfold) is more likely, but even then prions need to misfold in specific ways that encourage their replication as well. In all likelihood the error is just going to prevent the ribosome from finishing transcription and we'll have just a fragment of whatever protein the RNA initially encoded for.

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Re:The EMA Covid-19 data leak, and what it tells us about mR... by tobmlt on Wednesday March 17, 2021 @07:18PM (#26497997)

Thanks! This is good to know as well. And thanks for pausing to help someone who honestly has no spare time whatsoever to dig in. I know that is probably frustrating for some (not necessarily you, it’s just I’ve been there and it can be exasperating)

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