Vaccinia localization in the vicinity of the MTOC depends on microtubules and the dynein±dynactin complex Indirect immuno¯uorescence labelling shows that by 6 h post-infection the majority of vaccinia virus particles are concentrated in the area coinciding with the centre of the microtubule aster ( Figure 1A and C). To examine whether this localization is indeed microtubule dependent, we infected cells pre-treated with nocodazole to depolymerize microtubules. In the absence of microtubules, virus particles were distributed throughout the cytoplasm ( Figure 1B and D) . The accumulation of virus particles in the area around the centre of the microtubule aster suggested that a microtubule minus end-directed motor may be involved in establishing the position of the virus in this location. To examine this possibility, we infected cells overexpressing p50/dynamitin which acts as a dominantnegative for dynein±dynactin function (Echeverri et al., 1996) . We found in cells overexpressing p50/dynamitin that virus particles did not accumulate at the centre of the microtubule aster but rather throughout the cytoplasm, as occurs in the absence of microtubules (compare Figure 2B with Figure 1D ).