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Front cover illustration

During entry of alphaviruses, ion-permeable pores are generated in the target membrane. The formation of these pores in the plasma membrane leads to an influx of Ca²⁺ into the cytoplasm. The intracellular Ca²⁺ concentration in a BHK cell monolayer prior to virus entry at the plasma membrane (upper image) and 30 s after virus entry (lower image) is shown. In these false-colour images, blue represents low, green to yellow intermediate and red high Ca²⁺ concentrations. Entry of the Semliki Forest alphavirus into the cells was induced by low-pH treatment after adsorption at 0 °C. Intracellular Ca²⁺ was monitored by ratiometric imaging after loading the cells with the Ca²⁺-sensitive dye Fura-2. Images courtesy of Dr Andreas Koschinski, Rudolf-Buchheim-Institut für Pharmakologie, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, Germany. See the paper by Koschinski et al. in this issue, pp. 3311-3320.