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Nature Cell Biology 3, E245–E246 (1 November 2001) | doi:10.1038/ncb1101-e245

High-speed mass transit for poxviruses on microtubules

Bernard Moss & Brian M. Ward

Viruses that replicate in the nucleus or the juxtanuclear region of the cytoplasm must traverse a relatively long distance before reaching the cell membrane and escaping to the exterior. Because the simple diffusion of such large particles through the viscous and organelle-filled cytoplasm would be impossibly slow, special transport mechanisms are employed.