Moderna mRNA sequence released to GitHub [pdf]

Post by redis_mlc » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 12:23 PM UTC

ethbr0 wrote: post #195

mikehollinger wrote: post #167

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Reading the primary claim is fascinating: "A composition, comprising: a messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) comprising an open reading frame encoding a betacoronavirus (BetaCoV) S protein or S protein subunit formulated in a lipid nanoparticle." I have a "I'm sure that means something to somebody" feeling. It's also surprising that the remaining claims seem to describe the resulting bits of the sequence, and that that…

It's an interesting structure, but probably partly out of patent law. To wit, SARS-nCoV-2 is non-patentable, being of natural occurance. But a specific composition that encodes its spike protein, encapsulated in a lipid nanoparticle? That's much more of a creative work.

Post by azernik » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 12:52 PM UTC

amelius wrote: post #284

azernik wrote: post #70

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The protein they're trying to manufacture is indeed quite simple - AFAIU both BioNTech and Moderna put together their sequences in a weekend. (Though there was a more involved process of winnowing down the sequences for the most effective ones.) The technically challenging parts are: - delivery mechanism: you need to take a very unstable molecule, protect it from the environment - both external, and when inside the p…

Would it be possible to use the same delivery mechanism for other mRNA sequences?

Post by jcims » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 12:58 PM UTC

retSava wrote: post #273

jcims wrote: post #231

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This is a great animation of the life cycle of an HIV virus. It’s not exactly what happens with the pandemic virus but it gives you a good idea of the complexity of the process of viral reproduction (vaccine or immune response isn’t covered here): https://vimeo.com/260291607 Animation of transcription from mRNA: https://youtu.be/TfYf_rPWUdY

The "SARS-CoV-2 entry" video was really interesting too, and I recommend watching them both to see how they are different. https://vimeo.com/510310488

Post by wubbfindel » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 1:03 PM UTC

Tuna-Fish wrote: post #307

phreeza wrote: post #301

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People tend to think of genetic code as a sort of assembly language which is very verbose, but I wonder if the correct way to view it is in fact a very terse domain-specific language, because it actually depends on the entire complex machinery of the cell to be present in order to work, which in itself contains a lot of information?

Yes. Another important metaphor is that the common idea of DNA as blueprints is entirely wrong. It's not blueprints, it's a recipe. A blueprint describes what something is. A recipe describes the steps needed to make something, making use of a lot of complex existing machinery and parts with only a reference to them.

Post by vadiml » Tue, Mar 30, 2021, 1:27 PM UTC

dnautics wrote: post #125

azernik wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The protein they're trying to manufacture is indeed quite simple - AFAIU both BioNTech and Moderna put together their sequences in a weekend. (Though there was a more involved process of winnowing down the sequences for the most effective ones.) The technically challenging parts are: - delivery mechanism: you need to take a very unstable molecule, protect it from the environment - both external, and when inside the p…

sequence is actually released by Moderna in their patent: https://www.modernatx.com/sites/default/files/US10702600.pdf though they do present multiple sequences, so I guess you'd have to go to the FDA application to figure out exactly which one got used.