Genetic research of monkeypox virus

The largest monkeypox virus (MPXV) outbreak described so
far in non-endemic countries was identified in May 2022.
Here, shotgun metagenomics allowed the rapid reconstruction
and phylogenomic characterization of the first genome sequences
of the MPXV outbreak variant. We observed that this MPXV
belongs to the West African clade and that the ongoing outbreak
most likely has a single origin. Although 2022 MPXV clustered
with 2018–2019 cases epidemiologically linked to an endemic
country, it segregates in a highly divergent phylogenetic branch
(~50SNPs), likely representing a recent evolutionary jump. This
hypermutation signature suggests the potential action of host
APOBEC in viral evolution. We also detected ongoing
microevolution (e.g., SNPs, minor variants and gene loss) during
the human-to-human outbreak transmission, highlighting potential
targets of adaptation. This study sheds light on MPXV adaptive
evolution and indicates that genome sequencing might provide
resolution to track the spread and transmission of this presumably
slow-evolving dsDNA virus. (https://bit.ly/3thbIut)
Comparing the sequence of viruses from fresh samples with samples
from 2019, the authors of the work noticed that the former had
accumulated a lot of differences - an average of 50 single nucleotide
substitutions. This is 6 to 12 times more than the researchers
expected to see, given the usual rate at which poxviruses evolve.