Rabies virus assembly and budding

Abstract

Rabies virus (RABV) and other negative-strand RNA viruses are the causes of serious diseases in humans and animals worldwide. Assembly and budding are important late events in the replication cycles of these negative-strand RNA viruses that have received much attention in the past decade. Indeed, important insights into the molecular mechanisms by which rhabdoviral proteins usurp and/or interact with host proteins to promote efficient virion assembly and egress has greatly enhanced our understanding of the budding process. Assembly/budding of rhabdoviruses is driven largely by the matrix (M) protein. RABV M protein contains a late budding domain that mediates the recruitment of host proteins linked to the vacuolar protein sorting pathway of the cell to facilitate virus-cell separation. This chapter summarizes our current knowledge of the roles that both RABV M protein and interacting host proteins play during the budding process.