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Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9, 422 (1 June 2008) | doi:10.1038/nrm2420

Cellular microbiology: Virus plays dead

Arianne Heinrichs

Vaccinia virus is a large, complex, enveloped DNA virus that belongs to the Poxviridae family of viruses, which includes variola, the causative agent of smallpox. The infectious mature virus (MV) form of vaccinia has been shown to bind to actin-containing finger-like protrusions (filopodia) of the host cell and enter the cell in a pH-dependent manner.