TY - JOUR T1 - Multiple lineages of <em>Monkeypox virus</em> detected in the United States, 2021- 2022 JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/2022.06.10.495526 SP - 2022.06.10.495526 AU - Crystal M. Gigante AU - Bette Korber AU - Matthew H. Seabolt AU - Kimberly Wilkins AU - Whitni Davidson AU - Agam K. Rao AU - Hui Zhao AU - Christine M. Hughes AU - Faisal Minhaj AU - Michelle A. Waltenburg AU - James Theiler AU - Sandra Smole AU - Glen R. Gallagher AU - David Blythe AU - Robert Myers AU - Joann Schulte AU - Joey Stringer AU - Philip Lee AU - Rafael M. Mendoza AU - LaToya A. Griffin-Thomas AU - Jenny Crain AU - Jade Murray AU - Annette Atkinson AU - Anthony H. Gonzalez AU - June Nash AU - Dhwani Batra AU - Inger Damon AU - Jennifer McQuiston AU - Christina L. Hutson AU - Andrea M. McCollum AU - Yu Li Y1 - 2022/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/06/11/2022.06.10.495526.abstract N2 - Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease endemic in Central and West Africa. In May 2022, dozens of non-endemic countries reported hundreds of monkeypox cases, most with no epidemiological link to Africa. We identified two lineages of Monkeypox virus (MPXV) among nine 2021 and 2022 U.S. monkeypox cases. A 2021 case was highly similar to the 2022 MPXV outbreak variant, suggesting a common ancestor. Analysis of mutations among these two lineages revealed an extreme preference for GA-to-AA mutations indicative of APOBEC3 cytosine deaminase activity that was shared among West African MPXV since 2017 but absent from Congo Basin lineages. Poxviruses are not thought to be subject to APOBEC3 editing; however, these findings suggest APOBEC3 activity has been recurrent and dominant in recent West African MPXV evolution.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest. ER -