The Animal Virology Collection currently includes over 2,000 viruses, chlamydiae, rickettsiae, neutralizing antisera, and cloned viral genomes. The descriptions and classifications in the catalog are based primarily on the recommendations of the depositor with input from the American Society for Virology collection advisors, ATCC staff, and the report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. The ATCC Animal Virology Collection also includes the repository component of the Poxvirus Bioinformatics Resource Center, funded under a grant from the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The Poxvirus Center provides resources to the scientific community for basic research and to facilitate the development of novel antiviral therapies and vaccines against human orthopoxvirus infections as well as approaches for environmental detection of virions and the rapid diagnosis of disease. The Plant Virology Collection includes plant viruses and monoclonal antisera against plant viruses, and molecular clones of viral genes.