Moderating
This is just a reminder to keep things civil in this forum. While no posts are really over the line so far, I don’t want to see things escalate.
Colibri
Quarantine Zone Moderator
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/370/6513/203
Here’s one article that describes a structural analysis of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The spike has some hinged areas, which IIRC SARS-CoV-1 and MERS do not have. This may be part of the reason this virus was more successful than those other two.
That is probably severely understating it. Viruses seem to me to be more diverse than all cellular life put together. I would call them seven different kingdoms. (Of course any or all of those could be polyphyletic.)
This should increase binding affinity and may facilitate fusion with the cell membrane.
I don’t think that this is the case. Rather, it’s normally only respiratory-tract influenza that’s recognized as ‘the flu’, which is a dangerous disease often followed by fatal bacterial lung infection.
The stuff I’ve read reports digestive-tract receptors and flu infection, but mostly it is not studied much. I suggest because it is mostly not followed by lethal digestive-tract disease.
I think you’re confusing the influenza virus family with the viruses that cause gastroenteritis. Those are not related. People with influenza can have GI symptoms, but it’s not due to the virus infecting cells in the GI tract. Influenza A viruses bind specifically to receptors in the upper respiratory tract. There is a hypothesis out there that the 2018 virus was able to bind to receptors in the lower respiratory tract. This has not been proven (as far as I know).
This review describes certain molecules on the surface of cells of the respiratory tract (sialic acid linkages) that are recognized by the influenza viruses.
While people can get secondary bacterial infections with the flu, the virus on its own can be fatal. People with the 1918 flu probably died from cytokine storms caused by the immune system going haywire.
An article I read likened it to a shoulder and elbow joint which facilitated finding the receptor site on the cell surface. Made me think of an old-fashioned sea mine.
No. I’m talking about influenza A, binding specifically to receptors in the GI tract, but for which those receptors are not as much studied or as well known as those in respiratory tract.
To restate: there are influenza type A receptors in the GI tract, and it’s not something everyone is aware of or cares about.
Interesting. I guess there’s not a lot of data out there regarding GI tract because it’s not a major player in the pathology. I found one paper showing receptor distribution in the pig GI tract. Pig receptors are thought to mirror those of humans.