During the complex vaccinia infection process, the actin cytoskeleton is dramatically reorganized and numerous actin comet-like tails are induced by IEV particles (Cudmore et al., 1995; Ro Èttger et al., 1999) . Using actin polymerization as the driving force, IEV particles are propelled on actin tails until they contact the plasma membrane and extend outwards, thereby facilitating infection of neighbouring cells (Cudmore et al., 1995) . In addition, vaccinia infection results in stimulation of cell motility, loss of contact inhibition and changes in cell adhesion (Sanderson and Smith, 1998; Sanderson et al., 1998b) . Vaccinia virus-induced cell motility can be subdivided further into cell migration and extension of neurite-like projections, the latter of which is dependent on microtubules (Sanderson et al., 1998b) . The dependence of neurite-like projection formation on microtubules suggests that the microtubule cytoskeleton may also play a role during the life cycle of vaccinia virus. Indeed, recently, the vaccinia A27L protein and microtubules have been shown to be required for ef®cient IMV dispersion (Sanderson et al., 2000) . Furthermore, in the absence of vaccinia actin-based motility, cell to cell spread still occurs although it is less ef®cient (Wolffe et al., 1997 Sanderson et al., 1998a) , suggesting that additional transport mechanisms must exist.