The World Health Organization declared mpox (or monkeypox) a public health emergency of international concern in July 2022, and prophylactic and therapeutic measures are in urgent need. The monkeypox virus (MPXV) has its own DNA polymerase F8, together with the processive cofactors A22 and E4, constituting the polymerase holoenzyme for genome replication. The holoenzyme possesses an architecture that suggests a “forward sliding clamp” processivity mechanism for viral DNA replication. MPXV polymerase has a DNA binding mode similar to that of other B-family DNA polymerases from different species. Here you can see a recent cryoEM structure of monkeypox virus polymerase complex F8-A22-E4-H5 in complex with a DNA molecule (PDB code: 8WPE)

#molecularart ... #monkeypox ... #virus ... #DNApol ... #complex ... #cryoEM

Structure rendered with @proteinimaging and depicted with @corelphotopaint