Frameshifting might play a role in healthy gene regulation https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.201500131
The Achilles Heel of the Coronavirus
31–40 of 88 posts
Re: The Achilles Heel of the Coronavirus
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't see how it could lead to cancer. We are talking about a translation error, not a replication error.
it could, in theory lead to cancer, but you'd have to be super unlucky. (frameshift -> accidentally leads to some sort of oncogene agonist)
Even then, frame shifts are one off events, so you’d end up with a single instance of an oncogene that would quickly get recycled.
Re: The Achilles Heel of the Coronavirus
#33if we targeted this, would the coronavirus simply be able to figure out a way to regulate its proteins some other way?
There’s only one way to know for sure...
Re: The Achilles Heel of the Coronavirus
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think biological evolution is an important factor in modern humans.
That comment is spectaculary equally insightful, humorous and sad.
Within 20 years every newborn will be gene edited.
Likely, human intelligence and world view will end up being derived from a handful of genes, thus further blinding humanity to data outside of our worldview.
Imagine a world where everyone has the same level, and type, of emotional response to data, feels the same as a result of environmental stimuli, eg cold/warm/wet etc.
Imagine a world where if your next door neighbor cannot figure out something, no one ever can, for there are no geniuses or dullards.
The sameness of thought will make future society dull, compared to the Amish.
(Think it won't happen that fast? Laws will prevent it? Imagine your neighbour flies off-shore, and comes back with his child gene edited for appearance, intelligence, health. Now you are about to have a child. What do you do? Compared to the neighbour's child, yours will be dull, sickly, ugly. What will you do?
Now imagine the rich and powerful do this, bit you cannot afford it?
1%er indeed.)
Re: The Achilles Heel of the Coronavirus
#35Remarkable work, I wasn't aware that it was possible to image transcription at the ribosome like that.
Re: The Achilles Heel of the Coronavirus
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
That comment is spectaculary equally insightful, humorous and sad.
Within 20 years every newborn will be gene edited. Likely, human intelligence and world view will end up being derived from a handful of genes, thus further blinding humanity to data outside of our worldview. Imagine a world where everyone has the same level, and type, of emotional response to data, feels the same as a result of environmental stimuli, eg cold/warm/wet etc. Imagine a world where if your next door neig…
I think you overestimate the importance of genes. Twins are not identical people.
Re: The Achilles Heel of the Coronavirus
#37For me sounds scary to disable a mechanism in all our cells that is "rarely used". Negative knowledge covers what we don't know and what we don't know that we don't know, and that rarely could be less rare than we thought, doing maybe not do frequent but anyway essential things, for all or some cells.
The article doesn’t say it’s “rarely used”. It says it “rarely happens”. It is not supposed to happen: > Frameshifting almost never happens in our cells. It would lead to dysfunctional cellular proteins. So the drug would disable an aberrant behavior that coronaviruses depend upon to replicate. This doesn’t sound like a bad thing. It’s also why trials exist.
There is a level of confidence in your post which is wholly unwarranted given how complicated the human body is. There is no design committee at work here, nobody is telling any body what the bits are supposed to do. It is all evolutionary equilibriums. The point of this drug is to shut the coronavirus down to the point where it cannot restart; it is not at all out of the question that something obscure but important in the human body uses the same mechanism and would similarly be permanently disabled.
New technologies are all very well, but this is not the sort of approach that should be rolled out in an emergency. If someone has 10 years of safety data from some trial and can put their hand on their heart to swear there are no suspicions of a problem then that is one thing, but otherwise there is no way this approach is safe for an emergency mass deployment. It probably won't be relevant for the current pandemic.
Re: The Achilles Heel of the Coronavirus
#38Anyone else getting SSL_ERROR_UNSAFE_NEGOTIATION?
Re: The Achilles Heel of the Coronavirus
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
Within 20 years every newborn will be gene edited. Likely, human intelligence and world view will end up being derived from a handful of genes, thus further blinding humanity to data outside of our worldview. Imagine a world where everyone has the same level, and type, of emotional response to data, feels the same as a result of environmental stimuli, eg cold/warm/wet etc. Imagine a world where if your next door neig…
I think you overestimate the importance of genes. Twins are not identical people.
Twins are identical platforms.
Some studies show political leanings as genetically derived. Each human views the world with different senses, yet imagine all sensory input being significantly less divergent. Same taste. Smell.
I think you significantly underestimate the importance of genes.
Re: The Achilles Heel of the Coronavirus
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
The article doesn’t say it’s “rarely used”. It says it “rarely happens”. It is not supposed to happen: > Frameshifting almost never happens in our cells. It would lead to dysfunctional cellular proteins. So the drug would disable an aberrant behavior that coronaviruses depend upon to replicate. This doesn’t sound like a bad thing. It’s also why trials exist.
There is a level of confidence in your post which is wholly unwarranted given how complicated the human body is. There is no design committee at work here, nobody is telling any body what the bits are supposed to do. It is all evolutionary equilibriums. The point of this drug is to shut the coronavirus down to the point where it cannot restart; it is not at all out of the question that something obscure but important…
Not disagreeing on the caution angle.
But, let's imagine we find, by the usual trial and error, a chemical compound whose effects are that of curing patients from the coronavirus. Trials show that it has some rare side effects, like many other drugs.
How much do we need to "understand" its first, second and third (and fourth) order effects before deciding to use it?