Thursday, February 5, 2009

Its the smallest things...

Its the smallest things it seems some time that are most difficult to understand. For example how can the smallest virus with only an RNA that contains 4 genes for 4 proteins take over a host cell and make it not only replicate the virus' RNA but also make the virus' protein container and package the replicated RNA in that container. How do some viruses inject their DNA into a host cell and then the virus code just hides in the cell and replicates into new cells for long periods of time and then at some later point trigger the production of the virus. If we could gain some insight into how that code takes over a cell, could we gain some insight in how to stop the runaway code in a cancer cell.

How in the world does the virus code build a protein container structure. I've always found structure in the biological world to be a puzzle. Why do we look the way we do. Why aren't we just big bags of protoplasm rolling around like an amoeba. For example when a bone cell replicates how does the new cell know to stay where it is and not grow in some random direction. Why does a femur stay a femur shape and not turn into a blob as the bone cells replicate themselves. What keeps the structure? How do these structures form in the first place? How does it all work? I can't begin to comprehend it.

No comments:

Post a Comment