Development of an Accessible and Scalable Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction Assay for Monkeypox Virus Detection.

During the 2022 monkeypox (MPX) outbreak, testing has been limited and results delayed, allowing ongoing transmission. Gold-standard quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) diagnostics are difficult to obtain. This research adapted the June 2022 CDC MPX qPCR assay for broad implementation. Validated using MPX stocks in a matrix with multiple sample types, MPX was detected with cycle threshold (Ct) values 17.46-35.59 and titer equivalents 8.01 × 106 to 2.45 × 100 plaque-forming unit (PFU)/mL. The detection limit was 3.59 PFU/mL. Sensitivity and specificity were both 100%. This qPCR assay can be quickly and broadly implemented in research and public health laboratories to increase diagnostic capacity amid the growing MPX outbreak.

Alleles in metabolic and oxygen-sensing genes are associated with antagonistic pleiotropic effects on life history traits and population fitness in an ecological model insect.

Genes with opposing effects on fitness at different life stages are the mechanistic basis for evolutionary theories of aging and life history. Examples come from studies of mutations in model organisms, but there is little knowledge of genetic bases of life history tradeoffs in natural populations. Here, we test the hypothesis that alleles affecting oxygen sensing in Glanville fritillary butterflies have opposing effects on larval versus adult fitness-related traits. Intermediate-frequency alleles in Succinate dehydrogenase d, and to a lesser extent Hypoxia inducible factor 1α, are associated in larvae with variation in metabolic rate and activation of the hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) pathway, which affects tracheal development and delivery of oxygen to adult flight muscles. A dominant Sdhd allele is likely to cause antagonistic pleiotropy for fitness through its opposing effects on larval metabolic and growth rate versus adult flight and dispersal, and may have additional effects arising from sensitivity to low-iron host plants. Prior results in Glanville fritillaries indicate that fitness of alleles in Sdhd and another antagonistically pleiotropic metabolic gene, Phosphoglucose isomerase, depend strongly on the size and distribution of host plant patches. Hence, these intermediate-frequency alleles are involved in ecoevolutionary dynamics involving life history tradeoffs.