Cytoplasmic dynein LC8 interacts with lyssavirus phosphoprotein

Using a yeast two-hybrid human brain cDNA library screen, the cytoplasmic dynein light chain (LC8), a 10-kDa protein, was found to interact strongly with the phosphoprotein (P) of two lyssaviruses: rabies virus (genotype 1) and Mokola virus (genotype 3). The high degree of sequence divergence between these P proteins (only 46% amino acid identity) favors the hypothesis that this interaction is a common property shared by all lyssaviruses. The P protein-dynein LC8 interaction was confirmed by colocalization with laser confocal microscopy in infected cells and by coimmunoprecipitation. The dynein-interacting P protein domain was mapped to the 186 amino acid residues of the N-terminal half of the protein. Dynein LC8 is a component of both cytoplasmic dynein and myosin V, which are involved in a wide range of intracellular motile events, such as microtubule minus-end directed organelle transport in axon retrograde transport and actin-based vesicle transport, respectively. Our results provide support for a model of viral nucleocapsid axoplasmic transport. Furthermore, the role of LC8 in cellular mechanisms other than transport, e.g., inhibition of neuronal nitric oxide synthase, suggests that the P protein interactions could be involved in physiopathological mechanisms of rabies virus-induced pathogenesis.