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CrateDane t1_jc38lmt wrote

>If one bit of the RNA the virus injects, when read by the cell's machinery and assembled into a protein, builds one bit of the copy virus' RNA, then the copies can't have both a full copy of the RNA and a capsule and other proteins.

Why not? Are you assuming the RNA is consumed when it's read? It's not. Or are you thinking it can only be read in one way? There are two different kinds of systems for reading genetic information and making something based on the sequence. The ribosome reads three RNA bases at a time, dictating a protein sequence. Polymerases read one base at a time by matching up base pairs before insertion.

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not_my_usual_name OP t1_jc3fnd8 wrote

What I mean is that if each base in the injected RNA specifies exactly one base of the produced RNA, then there aren't any bases left in the injected RNA to specify how to build anything but an identical strand of RNA. It seems like there must be something more efficient going on, and I'm interested in what it is from an information science perspective.

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CrateDane t1_jc3k5ov wrote

If there's a sequence of AUG in an RNA, then an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase can copy that to UAC in a newly synthesized RNA, because those bases "fit" in base pairs. Then the UAC in that RNA can be copied into AUG in a new RNA that's identical to the original one.

A ribosome can read the exact same AUG sequence and insert a methionine into a protein.

One method is essentially just straight copying while staying in the same language, while the other is translating to a different language. That's why the process of making proteins is called translation.

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