Posted: 7 November 2025
A research team led by Monash University and the University of Melbourne has revealed how small but deadly viruses, such as rabies, manipulate human cells using only a handful of proteins — a discovery that could pave the way for new antivirals and vaccines.
Published in Nature Communications, the study explains how the rabies virus exerts such widespread control within infected cells despite having genetic material to produce just five proteins. Researchers found that one of these, known as the P protein, can change shape and bind to RNA, allowing it to carry out an array of cellular functions.
“Viruses such as rabies can be incredibly lethal because they take control of many aspects of life inside the cells they infect,” said Associate Professor Greg Moseley, co-senior author and head of the Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory at the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI). “They hijack protein production, disrupt communication within the cell, and disable the defences that protect us from infection.”
Co-first author Dr Stephen Rawlinson, a research fellow in Moseley’s lab, said the findings answered a long-standing question in viral biology. “We discovered that one of rabies virus’s key proteins gains a remarkable range of functions through its ability to change shape and bind to RNA,” he said.
By interacting with RNA, the P protein can move between different physical ‘phases’ within the cell and infiltrate vital liquid-like compartments that control processes such as immune defence and protein synthesis. Co-senior author Professor Paul Gooley from the University of Melbourne said this adaptability enables the virus to “turn the cell into a highly efficient virus factory.”
The team believes this mechanism may also apply to other lethal viruses, including Nipah and Ebola, opening new possibilities for designing targeted antivirals or vaccines.
The study involved collaborators from Monash University, the University of Melbourne, CSIRO, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, the Doherty Institute, the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness, and Deakin University.
