The Nucleocapsid (N) Protein is said to have a "tight" structure. The carboxyl end of the N-terminal domain possesses an RNA binding domain. Sequence alignments show 2 regions of reasonable conservation, approx. 64-103 and 201-329 [1]. A whole functional protein is required for encapsidation to take place [2].

1: Identification of a region of the rabies virus N protein involved in direct binding to the viral RNA. Kouznetzoff A, Buckle M, Tordo N; J Gen Virol 1998;79:1005-1013. PMID:9603315

2: The specificity of rabies virus RNA encapsidation by nucleoprotein. Yang J, Hooper DC, Wunner WH, Koprowski H, Dietzschold B, Fu ZF; Virology 1998;242:107-117. PMID:9501055