a day ago
- The mRNA vaccine contains a digital code (A, C, G, U) that instructs cells to produce the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, training the immune system without causing disease.
- Key components include a 5' cap for legitimacy, a 5' untranslated region (UTR) for ribosome binding, a signal peptide for protein localization, and a codon-optimized spike protein with two proline substitutions to stabilize its prefusion shape.
- The vaccine uses 1-methyl-3'-pseudouridylyl (Ν) instead of uracil to evade the immune system, and codon optimization adds more C and G bases for increased protein production.
- The 3' UTR and poly-A tail (with a linker) enhance mRNA stability and translation efficiency, while the entire sequence is about 4284 nucleotides long, with each dose containing trillions of copies.