RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 The structure of monkeypox virus 2’-O-ribose methyltransferase VP39 in complex with sinefungin provides the foundation for inhibitor design JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 2022.09.27.509668 DO 10.1101/2022.09.27.509668 A1 Jan Silhan A1 Martin Klima A1 Dominika Chalupska A1 Jan Kozic A1 Evzen Boura YR 2022 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/09/27/2022.09.27.509668.abstract AB Monkeypox is an emerging, rapidly spreading disease with pandemic potential. It is caused by the monkeypox virus (MPXV), a dsDNA virus from the Poxviridae family, that replicates in the cytoplasm and must encode for its own RNA processing machinery including the capping machinery. Here, we present the crystal structure of its 2’-O-RNA methyltransferase (MTase) VP39 in complex with the pan-MTase inhibitor sinefungin. A comparison of this 2’-O RNA MTase with enzymes from unrelated ssRNA viruses (SARS-CoV-2 and Zika) reveals a surprisingly conserved sinefungin binding mode implicating that a single inhibitor could be used against unrelated viral families.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.