[General] It is Through Their Shapes That Proteins Recognise Each Other

[tahasozgen]

The sentence above has been taken from the Economist, July 3rd 2021. The paragraph is about the SARS-COV-2 virus, which causes covid-19. Amino acid is a structural element of a virus. Bold word "shape" refers to the shape of the spike protein in SARS-COV-2, which is in the charge of the transmissibility of virus.

The specific shape into which it folds is determined by its unique sentence of amino acids, as laid out in the gene. And that shape underlies all the protein's future capabilities. Shape is almost everything in the world of proteins. It is through their shapes that proteins recognise each other.

Vocabulary:
through : [Adverb] So as to continue in time towards the completion of a process, period, etc. (https://www.lexico.com/definition/through)

In the bold sentence, what does pronoun "it" refers to? Does the bold sentence has problem? Thanks in advance.

 

[Rover_KE]

It's a dummy "it". [link]

 

[jutfrank]

through : [Adverb] So as to continue in time towards the completion of a process, period, etc.

That's not the use here. Here, it means something like 'by way of'.

 

[Tdol]

You could rewrite it:

The way proteins recognise each other is through/by their shapes.

 

[emsr2d2]

Tahasozgen, please note that there was no need to capitalise all the words in your title. Only "It" should have been capitalised because it was the first word of the quoted sentence.