| Poxviruses | |
|---|---|
| Virus classification | |
| Group: | Group I (dsDNA) |
| Order: | Unassigned |
| Family: | Poxviridae |
| Genera | |
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Subfamily Chordopoxvirinae Subfamily Entomopoxvirinae |
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Poxviruses (members of the family Poxviridae) are viruses that can, as a family, infect both vertebrate and invertebrate animals.
Four genera of poxviruses may infect humans: orthopox, parapox, yatapox, molluscipox. Orthopox: smallpox virus (variola), vaccinia virus, cowpox virus, monkeypox virus; Parapox: orf virus, pseudocowpox, bovine papular stomatitis virus; Yatapox: tanapox virus, yaba monkey tumor virus; Molluscipox: molluscum contagiosum virus (MCV).[1] The most common are vaccinia (seen on Indian subcontinent) and molluscum contagiousum, but monkeypox infections are rising (seen in west and central African rainforest countries).
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Poxviridae viral particles (virions) are generally enveloped (external enveloped virion- EEV), though the intracellular mature virion (IMV) form of the virus, which contains different envelope, is also infectious. They vary in their shape depending upon the species but are generally shaped like a brick or as an oval form similar to a rounded brick because they are wrapped by the endoplasmic reticulum. The virion is exceptionally large, its size is around 200 nm in diameter and 300 nm in length and carries its genome in a single, linear, double-stranded segment of DNA.[2] By comparison, Rhinovirus is 1/10 as large as a typical Poxviridae virion.[3]
Replication of the poxvirus involves several stages. The first thing the virus does is to bind to a receptor on the host cell surface; the receptors for the poxvirus are thought to be Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). After binding to the receptor, the virus enters the cell where it uncoats. Uncoating of the virus is a two step process. Firstly the outer membrane is removed as the particle enters the cell; secondly the virus particle (without the outer membrane) is uncoated further to release the core into the cytoplasm. The pox viral genes are expressed in two phases. The early genes are expressed first. These genes encode the non-structural protein, including proteins necessary for replication of the viral genome, and are expressed before the genome is replicated. The late genes are expressed after the genome has been replicated and encode the structural proteins to make the virus particle. The assembly of the virus particle occurs in the cytoskeleton of the cell and is a complex process that is poorly understood but is currently being researched. Considering the fact that this virus is large and complex, replication is relatively quick taking approximately 12 hours until the host cell dies by the release of viruses.
The replication of poxvirus is unusual for a virus with double-stranded DNA genome (dsDNA) because it occurs in the cytoplasm[4] Poxvirus encodes its own machinery for genome transcription, a DNA dependent RNA polymerase,[5] which makes replication in the cytoplasm possible. Most dsDNA viruses require the host cell's proteins to perform transcription. These host proteins are found in the nucleus, and therefore most dsDNA viruses carry out a part of their infection cycle within the host cell's nucleus.
The ancestor of the poxviruses is not known but structural studies suggest it may have been an adenovirus or a species related to both the poxviruses and the adenoviruses.[6]
Based on the genome organisation and DNA replication mechanism it seems that phylogenetic relationships may exist between the rudiviruses (Rudiviridae) and the large eukaryal DNA viruses: the African swine fever virus (Asfarviridae), Chlorella viruses (Phycodnaviridae) and poxviruses (Poxviridae).[7]
The mutation rate in these genomes has been estimated to be 0.9-1.2 x 10-6 substitutions per site per year.[8] A second estimate puts this rate at 0.5-7 × 10-6 nucleotide substitutions per site per year.[9] A third estimate places the rate at 4-6 × 10−6[10]
The last common ancestor of the extant poxviruses existed 0.5 million years ago. The genus Avipoxvirus diverged from the ancestor 249 ± 69 thousand years ago. The ancestor of the genus Orthopoxvirus was next to diverge from the other clades at 0.3 million years ago. A second estimate of this divergence time places this event at 166 ± 43,000 years ago.[9] The division of the Orthopox into the the extant genera occurred ~14,000 years ago. The genus Leporipoxvirus divereged ~137 ± 35,000 years ago. This was followed by the ancestor of the genus Yatapoxvirus. The last common ancestor of the Capripoxvirus and Suipoxvirus diverged 111 ± 29,000 years ago.
The date of the appearance of smallpox is not settled. It most likely evolved from a rodent virus between 68,000 and 16,000 years ago.[11][12] The wide range of dates is due to the different records used to calibrate the molecular clock. One clade was the variola major strains (the more clinically severe form of smallpox) which spread from Asia between 400 and 1,600 years ago. A second clade included both alastrim minor (a phenotypically mild smallpox) described from the American continents and isolates from West Africa which diverged from an ancestral strain between 1,400 and 6,300 years before present. This clade further diverged into two subclades at least 800 years ago.
A second estimate has placed the separation of variola from Taterapox at 3000–4000 years ago.[10] This is consistent with archaeological and historical evidence regarding the appearance of smallpox as a human disease which suggests a relatively recent origin. However if the mutation rate is assumed to be similar to that of the herpesviruses the divergence date between variola from Taterapox has been estimated to be 50,000 years ago.[10] While this is consistent with the other published estimates it suggests that the archaeological and historical evidence is very incomplete. Better estimates of mutation rates in these viruses are needed.
The variola virus was transferred from West Africa to South America in the 19th century.
The name of the family, Poxviridae, is a legacy of the original grouping of viruses associated with diseases that produced poxes in the skin. Modern viral classification is based on phenotypic characteristics; morphology, nucleic acid type, mode of replication, host organisms, and the type of disease they cause. The smallpox virus remains as the most notable member of the family.
The following genera are currently included here:
The G+C content of these genomes differs considerably.[15] Avipoxvirus, Capripoxvirus, Cervidpoxvirus, Orthopoxvirus, Suipoxvirus, Yatapoxvirus and one Entomopox genus (Betaentomopoxvirus) along with several other unclassified Entomopoxviruses have a low G+C content while others - Molluscipoxvirus, Orthopoxvirus, Parapoxvirus and some unclassified Chordopoxvirus - have a relatively high G+C content. The reasons for these differences are not known.
Phylogenetic analysis of 26 Chordopoxviruses genomes has shown that the central region of the genome is conserved and contains ~90 genes.[16] The termini in contrast are not conserved between species. Of this group Avipoxvirus is the most divergent. The next most divergent is Molluscipoxvirus. Capripoxvirus, Leporipoxvirus, Suipoxvirus and Yatapoxvirus genera cluster together: Capripoxvirus and Suipoxvirus share a common ancestor and are distinct from the genus Orthopoxvirus. Within the Othopoxvirus genus Cowpox virus strain Brighton Red, Ectromelia virus and Monkeypox virus do not group closely with any other member. Variola virus and Camelpox virus form a subgroup. Vaccinia virus is most closely related to CPV-GRI-90.
The prototype of poxvirus family is vaccinia virus, which has been used as a successful vaccine to eradicate smallpox virus. Vaccinia virus is also used as an effective tool for foreign protein expression to elicit strong host immune response. Vaccinia virus enters cells mainly by cell fusion, although currently the receptor is not known. Virus contains three classes of genes, early, intermediate and late, that are transcribed by viral RNA polymerase and associated transcription factors. Vaccinia virus replicates its genome in cytoplasm of the infected cells and after late gene expression virion morphogenesis produces IMV that contains envelope, although the origin of the envelope membrane is still unknown. IMV is transported to Golgi to be wrapped additional two membrane to become intracellular enveloped virus (IEV). IEV transports along microtubules to reach cell periphery and fuse with plasma membrane to become cell-associated enveloped virus (CEV) that triggers actin tails on cell surfaces or is releared as EEV.
Diseases caused by pox viruses, especially smallpox, have been known about for centuries. One of the earliest suspected cases is that of Egyptian pharaoh Ramses V who is thought to have died from smallpox nearly 2000 years BCE.[17] Smallpox was thought to have been transferred to Europe around the early 8th century and then to the Americas in the early 16th century. It is widely accepted that the main defeat of the Aztecs was due to a smallpox epidemic and within two years over 3.2 million Aztecs died. This death toll can be attributed to the American population's complete lack of sensitization to the virus as children. A century after Edward Jenner showed that the less potent cow pox could be used to effectively vaccinate against the more deadly smallpox, a worldwide effort to vaccinate everyone against smallpox began with the ultimate goal to rid the world of the plague-like epidemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the virus officially eradicated in 1977 and after nine years, in 1986, all virus samples were destroyed or transferred to two approved WHO reference labs: at the headquarters of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (the C.D.C.) in Atlanta, Georgia (the United States) and at the Institute of Virus Preparations in Moscow.[18] Post September 11, 2001 the American and UK governments have had increased concern over the use of smallpox, or a small pox like disease, in bio-terrorism.
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