I actually wonder how long it would take to notice if all your mRNA stopped working.
I don’t think neuron action potentials rely directly on mRNA, so I think you’d be able to keep thinking for a bit, and probably moving your muscles too. The closest comparable thing is people that received massive radiation doses (can’t make new RNA out of shredded DNA) and in those cases it takes a bit before you start melting.
I think it would be comparable to situation where all mRNA is suddenly unusable, ie protein synthesis can’t run at all. This would be something like ricin or diphteria toxin poisoning, but instead of being limited to gastrointestinal lining it’s spread all over. I’d guess hours to days before anything visible starts happening (symptoms only start to appear when deficit in new protein synthesis becomes noticeable; all protein already made continues to work for sone time)
I actually wonder how long it would take to notice if all your mRNA stopped working.
I don’t think neuron action potentials rely directly on mRNA, so I think you’d be able to keep thinking for a bit, and probably moving your muscles too. The closest comparable thing is people that received massive radiation doses (can’t make new RNA out of shredded DNA) and in those cases it takes a bit before you start melting.
I think it would be comparable to situation where all mRNA is suddenly unusable, ie protein synthesis can’t run at all. This would be something like ricin or diphteria toxin poisoning, but instead of being limited to gastrointestinal lining it’s spread all over. I’d guess hours to days before anything visible starts happening (symptoms only start to appear when deficit in new protein synthesis becomes noticeable; all protein already made continues to work for sone time)