Infectious intracellular mature vaccinia virus particles are wrapped by cisternae, which may arise from trans-Golgi or early endosomal membranes, and are transported along microtubules to the plasma membrane where exocytosis occurs. We used EH21, a dominant-negative form of Eps15 that is an essential component of clathrin-coated pits, to investigate the extent and importance of endocytosis of viral envelope proteins from the cell surface. Several recombinant vaccinia viruses that inducibly or constitutively express an enhanced green fluorescent protein (GFP)-EH21 fusion protein were constructed. Expression of GFP-EH21 blocked uptake of transferrin, a marker for clathrin-mediated endocytosis, as well as association of adaptor protein-2 with clathrin-coated pits. When GFP-EH21 was expressed, there were increased amounts of viral envelope proteins, including A33, A36, B5, and F13, in the plasma membrane, and their internalization was inhibited. Wrapping of virions appeared to be qualitatively unaffected as judged by electron microscopy, a finding consistent with a primary trans-Golgi origin of the cisternae. However, GFP-EH21 expression caused a 50% reduction in released enveloped virions, decreased formation of satellite plaques, and delayed virus spread, indicating an important role for receptor-mediated endocytosis. Due to dynamic interconnection between endocytic and exocytic pathways, viral proteins recovered from the plasma membrane could be used by trans-Golgi or endosomal cisternae to form new viral envelopes. Adherence of enveloped virions to unrecycled viral proteins on the cell surface may also contribute to decreased virus release in the presence of GFP-EH21. In addition to a salvage function, the retrieval of viral proteins from the cell surface may reduce immune recognition.Poxviruses are large, enveloped DNA viruses that replicate in the cytoplasm of their host cells (23). The assembly of vaccinia virus, the most intensively studied member of the poxvirus family, can be divided into two phases. The first begins with the formation of crescent-shaped membranes in virus factory areas of the cytoplasm and culminates in the production of infectious intracellular mature virions (IMV) (8). The second phase begins with the wrapping of IMV particles by cisternal membranes to form intracellular enveloped virions (IEV) (13). IEV are transported along microtubules to the periphery, where their outer membrane fuses with the plasma membrane (14,38,39). The majority of the extracellular virus particles, called cell-associated enveloped virions (CEV), adheres to the plasma membrane and mediates direct cell-to-cell spread (4). The released extracellular enveloped virions (EEV) may contribute to the long-range spread of virus (24).Seven proteins are known to be associated with IEV-or EEV-specific membranes. Of these, A36 (35), A56 (28), and B5 (11, 19) are type I integral membrane proteins, A33 (25) and A34 (9) are type II integral membrane proteins, and F13 (17) and probably F12 (34) are peripheral membrane proteins....