Molecular Aspects of the Emergence of Monkeypox Virus Clades.

ABSTRACT: Monkeypox virus (MPXV), which previously caused mainly zoonotic infections, is currently the causative agent of the mpox outbreak that began in 2022. Since the mpox outbreak is characterized by sustained human-to-human transmission, the evolutionary trajectory of MPXV is an important scientific issue. The prevailing hypothesis suggests that the modern orthopoxviruses originated from cowpox-like ancestors with larger genomes that infected a wide range of hosts. Subsequent evolution included the reduction of the genome and the accumulation of substitutions in key proteins. Molecular dating of MPXV evolution revealed 5-6-fold acceleration in the evolutionary rate that was observed in subclade IIb after 2018, reaching 1.8 × 10^-5 substitutions/site/year, likely due to virus' adaptati

SUBMITTER: Babkin IV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12737503 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature