COVID-19.They found that a crucial type of protein modification called "phosphorylation" becomes aberrant in these infected lung cells.According to the study, phosphorylation of proteins plays a major role in regulating protein function inside the cells of an organism.It noted that both protein abundance and protein phosphorylation are typically highly controlled processes in the case of healthy cells.However, the scientists discovered that SARS-CoV-2 throws the lung cells into disarray, causing abnormal changes in protein amounts and frequency of protein phosphorylation inside these cells.These abnormal changes, the scientists said, help the virus to multiply -- eventually destroying the cells and resulting in widespread lung injury.Upon.