ABSTRACT
Rabies and rabies-related viruses are relatively simple in their genome complexity and particle architecture. The rabies virus is composed of a single, nonsegmented strand of genomic RNA that contains five genes, each coding for a structural protein of the virion. The RNA and three of the proteins, the nucleoprotein (N), the transcriptase-associated protein (NS, originally indicating “nonstructural”), and the virion-associated transcriptase (L, the designation for “large” protein) form the tightly wound helical nucleocapsid core of virus particles. Two additional membrane-associated proteins surround the nucleocapsid structure and, together with membrane lipids, make up the viral envelope: the matrix (M) protein, thought to be located on the inner leaflet of the lipid bilayer envelope where it may interact with the inner nucleocapsid and the cytoplasmic tail of the outermost viral envelope protein; and the glycoprotein (G) which forms the spike-like projections on the surface of the virus particle.
