Malevolent Design News - SARS-CoV-2 May Cause Parkinsonism

The SARS-CoV-2 N-protein can interact with α-synuclein in the test tube and help it form amyloid fibrils, a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease.

Credit: Adapted from ACS Chemical Neuroscience 2021, DOI: 10.1021/acschemneuro.1c00666

SARS-CoV-2 protein interacts with Parkinson’s protein, promotes amyloid formation - American Chemical Society

Creationist mode:

Scientists working at the University of Twente, Netherlands, have shown a tentative link between infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the onset of Parkinsonism. As any Creationist devotee of the supernatural malevolence, whom they believe created the virus, will tell you, Creationism's putative intelligent [sic] designer is nothing if not thorough in its determination to cause as much misery and suffering as possible with its new pestilence.

Publishing in the American Chemical Society's journal, ACS Chemical Neuroscience, the team say they have shown, at least in the test tube, the SARS-CoV-2 N-protein interacts with a neuronal protein called α-synuclein and speeds the formation of amyloid fibrils, pathological protein bundles that have been implicated in Parkinson’s disease.

The ACS press release accompanying the publication explains:

In addition to respiratory symptoms, SARS-CoV-2 can cause neurological problems, such as loss of smell, headaches and “brain fog.” However, whether these symptoms are caused by the virus entering the brain, or whether the symptoms are instead caused by chemical signals released in the brain by the immune system in response to the virus, is still controversial. In Parkinson’s disease, a protein called α-synuclein forms abnormal amyloid fibrils, leading to the death of dopamine-producing neurons in the brain. Interestingly, loss of smell is a common premotor symptom in Parkinson’s disease. This fact, as well as case reports of Parkinson’s in COVID-19 patients, made Christian Blum, Mireille Claessens and colleagues wonder whether protein components of SARS-CoV-2 could trigger the aggregation of α-synuclein into amyloid. They chose to study the two most abundant proteins of the virus: the spike (S-) protein that helps SARS-CoV-2 enter cells, and the nucleocapsid (N-) protein that encapsulates the RNA genome inside the virus.

In test tube experiments, the researchers used a fluorescent probe that binds amyloid fibrils to show that, in the absence of the coronavirus proteins, α-synuclein required more than 240 hours to aggregate into fibrils. Adding the S-protein had no effect, but the N-protein decreased the aggregation time to less than 24 hours. In other experiments, the team showed that the N- and α-synuclein proteins interact directly, in part through their opposite electrostatic charges, with at least 3–4 copies of α-synuclein bound to each N-protein. Next, the researchers injected N-protein and fluorescently labeled α-synuclein into a cell model of Parkinson’s disease, using a similar concentration of N-protein as would be expected inside a SARS-CoV-2-infected cell. Compared to control cells with only α-synuclein injected, about twice as many cells died upon injection of both proteins. Also, the distribution of α-synuclein was altered in cells co-injected with both proteins, and elongated structures were observed, although the researchers could not confirm that they were amyloid. It’s unknown whether these interactions also occur within neurons of the human brain, but if so, they could help explain the possible link between COVID-19 infection and Parkinson’s disease, the researchers say.

If subsequently proven, this will be just another example of the brilliance and creative genius of Creationism's favourite sadist. Why use a creation like the SARS-CoV-2 virus to just kill people or make them sick for a few weeks, while ruining the world's economies and destroying businesses, when you can use the same virus to start a progressively debilitating disease developing in relatively young people and make them suffer for the rest of their lives, if they manage to survive the initial infection?

Creationist mode:

The grown-up science, of course, is not an attempt to show off the cleverness of a mythical magician in the sky but how much of a threat this virus could be, especially in its 'long covid' form. Showing yet again the importance of getting what protection against it medical science can currently offer - the vaccines, complete with the booster, and any regular (?annual) updates that might be required until the pandemic burns itself out and become just another annoying virus like those causing influenza and the common cold.

In other words, get boosted, as soon as possible and continue to excercise caution.

Reference:

Semerdzhiev, Slav A.; Fakhree, Mohammad A. A.; Segers-Nolten, Ine; Blum, Christian; Claessens, Mireille M. A. E.
Interactions between SARS-CoV-2 N-Protein and α-Synuclein Accelerate Amyloid Formation
ACS Chemical Neuroscience; (2021) DOI: 10.1021/acschemneuro.1c00666