We already know from COVID-19 how we can become infected and how to avoid contagion, we know that these pathogens constitute the subfamily Orthocoronavirinae, within the family Coronaviridae; and we know that its name refers to its characteristic morphology under the microscope, similar to a solar crown. But how does coronavirus manage to invade human cells?
S proteins that allow the virus to penetrate cells.
Like any virus, the cause of COVID-19 is composed of a nucleus of ribonucleic acid — the genetic material of the virus that contains all the information so that it can be duplicated — and a glycoprotein lipid membrane from which several proteins protrude with different functions and that are not the same in all viruses, but depends on each type. Coronavirus has three types of proteins on the outside: first, the so-called S protein that allows the virus to penetrate the body’s cells; Second, protein E is key to infecting other cells and finally, the N protein allows them to “camouflage” the genetic material so as not to be recognized and attacked by the immune system. Once it penetrates the body, usually through the droplets in suspension that we suck through the nose or mouth, and comes into contact with a human cell begins the infection process. And once there, it fits its S proteins into the ACE2 receptors of the human cell, like a kind of key that opens the cell lock.
RNA structure.
What he does once there is start replicating his genetic material. How do you do it? Using the small “biological machines”—or organelles—that we have in the cells. These, in turn, interpret viral RNA as their own—thanks to that camouflage of N proteins—and follow instructions to replicate viral RNA as their own. Once the genetic information of the virus has multiplied, the human cell also produces all the proteins necessary for new viruses to form. Finally, these new pathogens destroy the cell and go outside to infect new cells, advancing through the human body to wreak havoc. In this note:
