Ali ShahandehAmir Bin Rabu School of Biosciences and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia a.shahandeh@gmail.comamirrabu@gmail.com International Journal of Fundamental Physical Sciences (IJFPS) 3 3 36-42 September, 2013 2231-8186 https://doi.org/10.14331/ijfps.2013.330052 Nipah virus (NiV) was identified in Malaysia in 1998 as the etiological agent of an outbreak of acute encephalitis with high mortality. The L gene of NiV encodes the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase required for replication. This study investigates the role of the N-terminal domain of the L protein through deletion mutagenesis and a minigenome assay system. Five N-terminal deletions were introduced and tested for function using a minigenome system encoding a CAT reporter. Results show that the first 100 amino acids of the L protein are essential for transcription and possibly phosphoprotein interaction. These findings highlight the importance of the NH2-terminal domain in transcription and provide a foundation for antiviral strategies targeting this domain. L gene, polymerase protein, mutagenesis, Nipah virus https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/