Monkeypox virus: what is it?

Monkeypox virus what is it

the smallpox virus of the monkey or, monkeypoxis a virus DNA wrapped belonging to the family of Poxviridae and the kind of Orthopoxvirus. His genetic material is composed of a molecule unique linear double-stranded DNA of about 170 to 250 kbp. It has a “brick” shape characteristic of Poxviridae.

How can you get infected with monkeypox virus?

The monkeypox virus enters its host cell takes place after the intercation of proteins viral cells located on the membrane and the glycosamine glycans presented on the surface of the cell — no precise receiver is known to date. The entry mechanism of the virus is also subject to debate. It replicates only in the cytoplasm, right next to the nucleus, in “virus factories” where the Genoa early, involved in the replication of the DNA of the virus, then the late genes which take part in the structure of the virus (capsid, envelope). All components of the monkeypox virus assemble outside the viral factories and mature virions are released upon cell death.

Monkeypox virus strains are classified into two clades distinct: the clade “West Africa” ​​and the clade ” Bowl of Congo”. It was first identified in 1958 in laboratory monkeys in Denmark, hence its name, and in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Monkeypox virus (dark ovoid shapes) observed under an electron microscope isolated from a human sample.  © Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regnery, CDC

You will also be interested

Interested in what you just read?

fs7