Latest Monkeypox Genome: A Throwback from 2018?

by: Rhea Lynne Billones

Monkeypox virus—a supposedly rare and less-lethal relative of smallpox—has blown the world by crossing borders outside of its native African region. As of May 23, more than 120 cases have been reported including within nearly 20 countries where the said virus is not endemic.

A team in Portugal has published the first draft genome of the virus responsible for the rapidly spreading monkeypox outbreak online. The DNA sequence reveals that it is of the mild West African type and is most closely related to the monkeypox viruses discovered in the United Kingdom, Singapore, and Israel in 2018 and 2019.

However, what isn't clear is whether this virus has evolved to become more transmissible in humans—which would explain why the current outbreak is extremely widespread and by far the largest seen outside of Central and West Africa, where the virus supposedly spreads in monkeys. Given the large and complex genome of monkeypox, this could take some time to establish.

Fortunately, on May 4, Joo Paulo Gomes and colleagues at Portugal's National Institute of Health sequenced a sample taken from a male patient successfully published it. In fact, teams from various countries are also sequencing viral samples from the outbreak.

This draft sequence from Portugal, according to Gustavo Palacios of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, has too many gaps to draw firm conclusions.

On the other hand, he has seen a more complete sequence from a team in Belgium. "As far as I can tell, it appears to be identical to the one in the United Kingdom in 2018," Palacios says.

It is to be noted that in 2018, three UK cases were reported after a person returning from Nigeria infected two other members of their household. He even suggested that it's "a little strange".

As more samples are sequenced, it should become clear whether, as previously suspected, a single variant of monkeypox is responsible for all cases in the most recent outbreak. However, determining whether this variant is unique will be difficult. Even with the now well-studied SARS-CoV-2 virus, it is difficult to correlate specific mutations to changes in viral transmissibility and so on.

The monkeypox virus is much larger – around 200,000 DNA letters long compared to 30,000 RNA letters for the coronavirus – and hasn't been studied nearly as thoroughly. This just goes to show that the monkeypox genome needs further sequencing and analysis.

REFERENCES:

[1] Kozlov, Max. “Monkeypox Goes Global: Why Scientists Are on Alert.” Nature, 20 May 2022, www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01421-8, 10.1038/d41586-022-01421-8.

[2] Landman, Keren. “Why Monkeypox Isn’t like Covid-19.” Vox, 19 May 2022, www.vox.com/science-and-health/2022/5/19/23126248/monkeypox-infections-covid-outbreak-smallpox. Accessed 24 May 2022.

[3] Le Page, Michael. “Monkeypox: First Genome from Latest Outbreak Shows Links to 2018 Strain | New Scientist.” Www.newscientist.com, 20 May 2022, www.newscientist.com/article/2321407-first-monkeypox-genome-from-latest-outbreak-shows-links-to-2018-strain/amp/. Accessed 24 May 2022.

[4] Reuters. “Factbox: Monkeypox Cases around the World.” Reuters, 23 May 2022, www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/monkeypox-cases-around-world-2022-05-23/. Accessed 24 May 2022.

[5] WHO. “Multi-Country Monkeypox Outbreak in Non-Endemic Countries.” Www.who.int, 21 May 2022, www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2022-DON385.

IMAGES:

[1] Putka, Sophie. “Draft Genome Sequence of Latest Monkeypox Virus Unveiled.” Www.medpagetoday.com, 20 May 2022, www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/exclusives/98857. Accessed 24 May 2022.

[2] Roxby, Philippa. “Concern over Monkeypox Impact on Sexual Health.” BBC News, 20 May 2022, www.bbc.com/news/health-61527835.amp. Accessed 24 May 2022.