Synthetic horsepox viruses and the continuing debate about dual use research

Variola Virus and Clade I Mpox Virus Differentially Modulate Cellular Responses Longitudinally in Monocytes During Infection

Variola virus (VARV), the etiological agent of smallpox, had enormous impacts on global health prior to its eradication. In the absence of global vaccination programs, mpox virus (MPXV) has become a growing public health threat that includes endemic and nonendemic regions across the globe. While human mpox resembles smallpox in clinical presentation, there are considerable knowledge gaps regarding conserved molecular pathogenesis between these 2 orthopoxviruses. Thus, we sought to compare MPXV and VARV infections in human monocytes through kinome analysis. We performed a longitudinal analysis of host cellular responses to VARV infection in human monocytes as well as a comparative analysis to clade I MPXV-mediated responses. While both viruses elicited strong activation of cell responses early during infection as compared to later time points, several key differences in cell signaling events were identified and validated. These observations will help in the design and development of panorthopoxvirus therapeutics.

An Adagio for Viruses, Played Out on Ancient DNA

Studies of ancient DNA have transformed our understanding of human evolution. Paleogenomics can also reveal historic and prehistoric agents of disease, including endemic, epidemic, and pandemic pathogens. Viruses-and in particular those with single- or double-stranded DNA genomes-are an important part of the paleogenomic revolution, preserving within some remains or environmental samples for tens of thousands of years. The results of these studies capture the public imagination, as well as giving scientists a unique perspective on some of the more slowly evolving viruses which cause disease. In this review, we revisit the first studies of historical virus genetic material in the 1990s, through to the genomic revolution of recent years. We look at how paleogenomics works for viral pathogens, such as the need for careful precautions against modern contamination and robust computational pipelines to identify and analyze authenticated viral sequences. We discuss the insights into virus evolution which have been gained through paleogenomics, concentrating on three DNA viruses in particular: parvovirus B19, herpes simplex virus 1, and smallpox. As we consider recent worldwide transmission of monkeypox and synthetic biology tools that allow the potential reconstruction of extinct viruses, we show that studying historical and ancient virus evolution has never been more topical.

Motivating Proactive Biorisk Management

Scholars and practitioners of biosafety and biosecurity (collectively, biorisk management or BRM) have argued that life scientists should play a more proactive role in monitoring their work for potential risks, mitigating harm, and seeking help as necessary. However, most efforts to promote proactive BRM have focused on training life scientists in technical skills and have largely ignored the extent to which life scientists wish to use them (ie, their motivation). In this article, we argue that efforts to promote proactive BRM would benefit from a greater focus on life scientists' motivation. We review relevant literature on life scientists' motivation to practice BRM, offer examples of successful interventions from adjacent fields, and outline ideas for possible interventions to promote proactive BRM, along with strategies for iterative development, testing, and scaling.

Monkeypox in humans: a new outbreak

Infection caused by Monkeypox Virus (MPVX) has small rodents as its natural reservoir and both monkeys and humans are occasional hosts. The causative agent is an Orthopoxvirus (MPVX) that was isolated in monkeys in 1958 and proved capable of passing to humans in 1970. It remained contained in Africa, causing isolated episodes of infection, until 2003 when an outbreak occurred in the United States following importation of animals from that continent. Since then, anecdotal cases have continued to be reported outside Africa, usually very clearly linked to travelers to those countries, but in May 2022, a broad outbreak of this disease has begun, now affecting several continents, with the emergence of human cases of MPVX (H-MPVX) infection mainly among Men that have Sex with Men (MSM). The disease has an incubation time ranging from 5 to 15 days and is characterized by the presence of pustules, fever, malaise and headache. The presence of significant regional lymphadenopathy is a differential feature with episodes of classical smallpox. Proctitis and pharyngitis, with minimal skin lesions, may be another form of presentation. Diagnosis can be confirmed by PCR testing of lesions or by demonstration of MPVX in other body fluids or tissues, although in the appropriate epidemiologic setting the clinical picture is highly suggestive of the disease. Effective drug treatment has been developed as part of programs to protect against potential bioterrorist agents and smallpox vaccinees are known to have high protection against monkeypox. New vaccines are available, but neither the drugs nor the vaccines are yet freely available on the market. The prognosis of the disease appears, at least in adults in developed countries, to be good, with very low mortality figures and much less aggressive behavior than that described in classical smallpox. Isolation measures, essential for the control of the outbreak, have been published by the health authorities.

Life and death of smallpox

Smallpox is an ancient scourge known since the Antiquity. It is caused by a highly contagious airborne poxvirus. This strictly human disease exists in two forms: variola major (Asian smallpox) with mortality of 20-45%, and an attenuated form called variola minor or alatrim with mortality of 1-2%, which only recently appeared in Europe and America towards the end of the 19th century. The first smallpox pandemic was the "Antonine plague", which swept through the Roman Empire in the 2nd century AD, after which smallpox became endemic in the Old World, causing seasonal and regional epidemics in Europe, affecting mostly young children until the 19th century. The discovery of the New World in 1492 and the opening of the African slave trade favored in 1518 the contamination by smallpox of the native Amerindian populations, who were massively decimated during the following centuries. In the absence of any effective treatment, preventive methods were developed from the 18th century. First, variolation was used, a dangerous procedure that consists in inoculating intradermally a small quantity of virus from convalescent patients. In the early 19th century, Edward Jenner popularized the practice of inoculating cowpox, a mild cow disease. This procedure proved to be very effective and relatively safe, leading to the decline of smallpox during the 19th century. In the 20th century, a ten-year WHO vaccination campaign led to the total eradication of smallpox in 1977. During that century, smallpox caused an estimated 300-500 million deaths worldwide. Using molecular approach, it has been discovered that the smallpox virus emerged 3000-4000 years ago in East Africa and is closely related to the taterapox virus from African gerbils and to the camelpox virus, which causes variola in camelids. Today, smallpox virus strains are stored in freezers at the CDC in Atlanta and at the Vector Center in Koltsovo, Siberia. That is why smallpox remains a potential threat to the highly susceptible human species, as a result of an accident or malicious use of the virus as a biological weapon.

Poxvirus Recombination

Genetic recombination is used as a tool for modifying the composition of poxvirus genomes in both discovery and applied research. This review documents the history behind the development of these tools as well as what has been learned about the processes that catalyze virus recombination and the links between it and DNA replication and repair. The study of poxvirus recombination extends back to the 1930s with the discovery that one virus can reactivate another by a process later shown to generate recombinants. In the years that followed it was shown that recombinants can be produced in virus-by-virus crosses within a genus (e.g., variola-by-rabbitpox) and efforts were made to produce recombination-based genetic maps with modest success. The marker rescue mapping method proved more useful and led to methods for making genetically engineered viruses. Many further insights into the mechanism of recombination have been provided by transfection studies which have shown that this is a high-frequency process associated with hybrid DNA formation and inextricably linked to replication. The links reflect the fact that poxvirus DNA polymerases, specifically the vaccinia virus E9 enzyme, can catalyze strand transfer in in vivo and in vitro reactions dependent on the 3′-to-5′ proofreading exonuclease and enhanced by the I3 replicative single-strand DNA binding protein. These reactions have shaped the composition of virus genomes and are modulated by constraints imposed on virus–virus interactions by viral replication in cytoplasmic factories. As recombination reactions are used for replication fork assembly and repair in many biological systems, further study of these reactions may provide new insights into still poorly understood features of poxvirus DNA replication.

[Dual-use research on modified pathogens in the laboratory: What framework for what issue?]

Technological advances in synthetic biology have made in vitro modification, or even creation, of viruses easier and more affordable. Several research studies using synthesis of potential pandemic pathogens led to controversies in the 2010's. More recently, the hypothesis that Covid-19 pandemics could originate from a lab escape is still under debate. In France, a legislative vacuum remains concerning the synthesis of modified pathogens. Initiating a collective reflection process towards setting of a legal framework on this type of work is timely so that research continues to provide profit to society rather than hazard.

Virus Eradication and Synthetic Biology: Changes with SARS-CoV-2?

The eradication of infectious diseases has been achieved only once in history, in 1980, with smallpox. Since 1988, significant effort has been made to eliminate poliomyelitis viruses, but eradication is still just out of reach. As the goal of viral disease eradication approaches, the ability to recreate historically eradicated viruses using synthetic biology has the potential to jeopardize the long-term sustainability of eradication. However, the emergence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus (SARS-CoV)-2 pandemic has highlighted our ability to swiftly and resolutely respond to a potential outbreak. This virus has been synthetized faster than any other in the past and is resulting in vaccines before most attenuated candidates reach clinical trials. Here, synthetic biology has the opportunity to demonstrate its truest potential to the public and solidify a footing in the world of vaccines.

Monkeypox Virus in Nigeria: Infection Biology, Epidemiology, and Evolution

Monkeypox is a zoonotic disease caused by monkeypox virus (MPXV), which is a member of orthopoxvirus genus. The reemergence of MPXV in 2017 (at Bayelsa state) after 39 years of no reported case in Nigeria, and the export of travelers' monkeypox (MPX) from Nigeria to other parts of the world, in 2018 and 2019, respectively, have raised concern that MPXV may have emerged to occupy the ecological and immunological niche vacated by smallpox virus. This review X-rays the current state of knowledge pertaining the infection biology, epidemiology, and evolution of MPXV in Nigeria and worldwide, especially with regard to the human, cellular, and viral factors that modulate the virus transmission dynamics, infection, and its maintenance in nature. This paper also elucidates the role of recombination, gene loss and gene gain in MPXV evolution, chronicles the role of signaling in MPXV infection, and reviews the current therapeutic options available for the treatment and prevention of MPX. Additionally, genome-wide phylogenetic analysis was undertaken, and we show that MPXV isolates from recent 2017 outbreak in Nigeria were monophyletic with the isolate exported to Israel from Nigeria but do not share the most recent common ancestor with isolates obtained from earlier outbreaks, in 1971 and 1978, respectively. Finally, the review highlighted gaps in knowledge particularly the non-identification of a definitive reservoir host animal for MPXV and proposed future research endeavors to address the unresolved questions.

Reevaluating the Risk of Smallpox Reemergence

INTRODUCTION

Smallpox, caused by variola virus, was eradicated in 1980, but remains a category A bioterrorism agent. A decade ago, smallpox ranked second after anthrax in a multifactorial risk priority scoring analysis of category A bioterrorism agents. However, advances in genetic engineering and synthetic biology, including published methods for synthesizing an Orthopoxvirus, require the assumptions of this scoring for smallpox and other category A agents to be reviewed.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The risk priority framework was reviewed and revised to account for the capability for creation of synthetic or engineered smallpox and other category A agents.

RESULTS

The absolute score for all agents increased because of gene editing and synthetic biology capability, which was not present when the framework was developed more than a decade ago, although new treatments revised scores downward for smallpox, Ebola, and botulism. In the original framework, smallpox scored 0 for global availability, given the high security around known seed stocks of variola in two laboratories in the United States and Russia. Now, smallpox can be created using synthetic biology, raising the score for this criterion to 2. Other agents too, such as Ebola, score higher for availability, based on synthetic biology capability. When advances in synthetic biology and genetic engineering are considered, smallpox and anthrax are now equally ranked the highest category A bioterrorism agents for planning and preparedness.

CONCLUSIONS

Revision of a risk priority framework for category A bioterrorism agents shows that smallpox should be elevated in priority for preparedness planning, and that gene editing and synthetic biology raises the overall risk for all agents. The ranking of categories A, B, and C agents should also be revisited, as there is an endless possibility of engineered threats that may be more severe than any agent on the category A list.

[The eradication of infectious viral diseases endangered by advances in synthetic biology]

The eradication of infectious diseases is one of the oldest dreams of mankind. It has been materialized only once in History with smallpox in 1980. Considerable efforts are being developed against poliomyelitis viruses since 1988, but the ultimate goal of eradication is not yet achieved. Paradoxically, while the objective of having eradicated these two viral diseases is approaching, synthetic biology multiplies the prowesses of virus "neosynthesis", imperiling at least virtually the durability of these advances. This article emphasizes the potential of a new biology on one side, and the difficult reality of the fight against infections on the other.

CSV2018: The 2nd Symposium of the Canadian Society for Virology

The 2nd Symposium of the Canadian Society for Virology (CSV2018) was held in June 2018 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, as a featured event marking the 200th anniversary of Dalhousie University. CSV2018 attracted 175 attendees from across Canada and around the world, more than double the number that attended the first CSV symposium two years earlier. CSV2018 provided a forum to discuss a wide range of topics in virology including human, veterinary, plant, and microbial pathogens. Invited keynote speakers included David Kelvin (Dalhousie University and Shantou University Medical College) who provided a historical perspective on influenza on the 100th anniversary of the 1918 pandemic; Sylvain Moineau (Université Laval) who described CRISPR-Cas systems and anti-CRISPR proteins in warfare between bacteriophages and their host microbes; and Kate O’Brien (then from Johns Hopkins University, now relocated to the World Health Organization where she is Director of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals), who discussed the underlying viral etiology for pneumonia in the developing world, and the evidence for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) as a primary cause. Reflecting a strong commitment of Canadian virologists to science communication, CSV2018 featured the launch of Halifax’s first annual Soapbox Science event to enable public engagement with female scientists, and the live-taping of the 499th episode of the This Week in Virology (TWIV) podcast, hosted by Vincent Racaniello (Columbia University) and science writer Alan Dove. TWIV featured interviews of CSV co-founders Nathalie Grandvaux (Université de Montréal) and Craig McCormick (Dalhousie University), who discussed the origins and objectives of the new society; Ryan Noyce (University of Alberta), who discussed technical and ethical considerations of synthetic virology; and Kate O’Brien, who discussed vaccines and global health. Finally, because CSV seeks to provide a better future for the next generation of Canadian virologists, the symposium featured a large number of oral and poster presentations from trainees and closed with the awarding of presentation prizes to trainees, followed by a tour of the Halifax Citadel National Historic Site and an evening of entertainment at the historic Alexander Keith’s Brewery.