may be the most important for the functions of the virus are the L-P protein complex. These two proteins are required for the production of all of the proteins utilized by the rabies virus and they interact with many of the other proteins to complete the functions needed by the virus to infect cells, replicate and complete other vital functions. When the structure of the L-P protein was analyzed using UCSF Chimera, it was found that it contained two zinc molecules as well as 2 five-membered rings. The secondary structures were also analyzed, and it was found that there were three different kinds-coil, helix and strand. The phosphoprotein (P) consists of 297 amino acids, has a total mass of 33 k-Da and is a type I interferon antagonist. It is in a viral ribonucleoprotein made up of RNA surrounded by nucleoproteins (N), which form a structure that is ring-like. Each nucleoprotein surrounds nine nucleotides of the RNA and the nucleoproteins in conjunction with the phosphoprotein are important for initiating synthesis of the RNA. The phosphoprotein is largely responsible for preventing the immune system from destroying the virus before it can take hold. It has been found that it stops production of interferons by disrupting the interferon regulatory factor-3 (IRF-3) and, therefore, prevents the normal function of the interferons, which allows it to continue to infect the host. The phosphoprotein is also very important for replication. It is a required cofactor of the viral polymerase (L) and is also a chaperone for the nucleoprotein (N), which is responsible for the encapsidation of viral RNA. It is thought that the P protein consists of only a few repeating units. The polymerase (L) consists of 2,127 amino acids, has a total mass of 242 k-Da and interacts with the phosphoprotein to form the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase complex. L and P bind to each other and according to current research, the major L binding site is somewhere in the first 19 residues of the P protein. Other research found that the amino acid sequence numbered 1929 to 1933 is the sequence that is important for the L protein to bind with the P protein. It has been found that the L protein initiates synthesis and works optimally if it works together with the P protein. The region from 1900-1930, which contains part of the sequence that is important for L and P protein binding,