Possible adaption of the 2022 Monkeypox virus to the human host through gene duplication and loss

Abstract

Poxviruses are known to evolve slower than RNA viruses, with rearrangements such as gene gain and loss as the main driver for host adaption. In 2022 the world is being challenged by the largest global outbreak so far of Monkeypox virus, and the virus seems to have established itself in the human community. Here we report five MPXV genomes with extensive gene duplication and loss, including duplications of up to 18,000 bp to the opposed genome end, and deletions at the site of insertion of up to 16,000 bp, as a possible adaption to the human host.