Contribution of rearranged actin structures to the spread of Ectromelia virus infection in vitro.

We describe here a contribution of virus-induced actin tails and filopodia in transmission of Ectromelia virus (ECTV) infection in permissive cells detected by the immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy. Immunoblot analysis revealed profoundly decreased beta-actin levels during ECTV replicative cycle in the infected cells 24 hrs post infection (p.i.). These results provided a basis for the further analysis of ECTV motion in the infected cells as well as for impact of ECTV infection on the cytoskeletal proteins.