Ah okay, proteins are the thing I was missing. If you forgive the analogy, it's like taking a running computer and switching out the code that is running, the information in RAM (the proteins) used to communicate with the other devices (organelles) will not match.
It's this difference in the protein protocol between the nucleus and the organelles that probably causes viruses to work in some species and not others? Thus there's probably evolutionary pressure to diversify that protocol.
Taking another wild leap, humans could potentially modify that protocol in such a way that humans look exactly the same but would be resistant to cross species viruses.
scrooch OP t1_irnjcwq wrote
Reply to comment by dan_dares in Could CRISPR transform a mouse stem cell to a human stem cell? by scrooch
Ah okay, proteins are the thing I was missing. If you forgive the analogy, it's like taking a running computer and switching out the code that is running, the information in RAM (the proteins) used to communicate with the other devices (organelles) will not match.
It's this difference in the protein protocol between the nucleus and the organelles that probably causes viruses to work in some species and not others? Thus there's probably evolutionary pressure to diversify that protocol.
Taking another wild leap, humans could potentially modify that protocol in such a way that humans look exactly the same but would be resistant to cross species viruses.