Structure and operating principles of a monkeypox virus replisome

Nature, Published online: 02 September 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10937-2

During replisome assembly of monkeypox virus, the hexameric helicase–primase E5 undergoes large-scale conformational changes that allow two of its primase domains to interact with the polymerase F8 thumb domain and A22 subunit, activating the helicase–primase.