Write about mRNA and mRNA Vaccine 

mRNA

  • Messenger RNA (abbreviated mRNA) is a type of single-stranded RNA involved in protein synthesis.
  • Ribonucleic acid (abbreviated RNA) is a nucleic acid present in all living cells that has structural similarities to DNA.

RNA has three main roles in the cell:

  • It carries the instructions from the DNA in the nucleus to the ribosomes where proteins are made in the cytoplasm of the cell.
  • RNA picks up specific amino acids from the cytoplasm of the cell and delivers them to the ribosomes where protein synthesis takes place.
  • It makes up around 50% of the structure of the ribosomes.
  • The role of mRNA is to carry protein information from the DNA in a cell’s nucleus to the cell’s cytoplasm (watery interior).
  • At this point, the protein-making machinery reads the mRNA sequence and translates each three-base codon into its corresponding amino acid in a growing protein chain.

mRNA Vaccine

Background

  • Traditionally, vaccines have depended on introducing dead or weakened viruses into the human body, so it can develop antibodies against them.
  • Thus, when the actual virus infects someone, their body is prepared to fight it.
  • As technology evolved, instead of the whole virus, just a part of the viral genetic code, began to be introduced through vaccines.
  • But the large-scale development of such vaccines requires cell culture (growing of cells under controlled conditions) and takes time.

Challenge during Covid-19 pandemic

  • During the Covid-19 outbreak, time was of the essence in finding a weapon against the deadly and fast-spreading virus.
  • This is where mRNA technology proved crucial.

mRNA vaccine

  • Instead of putting an inactivated virus in the body to activate an immune response, vaccines using this technology use messenger Ribonucleic Acid, or mRNA, to deliver a message to the immune system.
  • Genetically engineered mRNA can instruct cells to make the protein needed to fight a particular virus.
  • Basically, the mRNA vaccines carry the genetic code for the proteins that make up the non-lethal but key parts of a virus.
  • Since RNA is already present in cells, this method does away with the need for cell culture.

mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine

  • The COVID-19 vaccines used the codes for the spike protein used by Sars-CoV-2 to enter the body.
  • Once injected, the vaccine uses the body’s own protein manufacturing centre to produce these viral proteins.
  • The immune system then responds by creating antibodies against the viral protein and learns to fight the actual infection.

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