The monkeypox outbreak in 2022: adaptive evolution associated with APOBEC3 may account for

Potential threat of human pathogenic orthopoxviruses to public health and control strategies

“…HIV infection significantly upregulates the expression of apolipoprotein B mRNA-editing catalytic polypeptide-like 3 (APOBEC3) (11) , which is a cytidine deaminase that catalyzes cytidine-to-uridine hypermutations. Coincidently, an unusual mutational bias (GA to AA or TC to TT) is present in recently sequenced MPXV genomes (12) , suggesting that APOBEC3 contributes to this particular biased mutation (13) . Therefore, APOBEC3 appears to be a key connecting molecule between HIV infection and an MPXV mutational bias, which possibly facilitates the evolution of new MPXV variants with stronger human-to-human transmission capability ( Figure 1 ).…”

Monkeypox (hMPXV Infection): A Practical Review

“…Although useful to modify foreign nucleic acid by inactivating its replication and transcription, APOBEC could accidentally render the viruses better fit to immune evasion or induce resistance to antiviral drugs. 5 …”

The evolving epidemiology of monkeypox virus

“…Among them, OPG210 and OPG105 have multiple nucleotide substitutions in the MPXV‐2022 strains and are mutated in multiple lineages of the MPXV [94] . In addition, the apolipoprotein B mRNA-editing catalytic polypeptide-like 3 (APOBEC3), a key enzyme that restricts many viruses by mutating their genomes, is important for MPXV evolution and potential human adaptation [91] , [95] . Taken together, the monitoring of the potential genome editing activity of APOBEC in MPXV infection and the current genomic lineage is critical for tracking and predicting various aspects of the current dynamics of MPXV transmission.…”