Establishment of a reverse genetics system for rabies virus strain Komatsugawa

The rabies virus strain Komatsugawa isolated from a dog in Tokyo in the 1940s retains biological properties as a field strain, providing an effective model for studying rabies pathogenesis. To facilitate molecular studies on the pathogenesis, this study aimed to establish a reverse genetics system for the Komatsugawa strain. By transfecting the full-length genome plasmid of this strain, infectious virus with artificially introduced genetic markers in its genome was rescued. The recombinant strain had biological properties similar to those of the original strain. These findings indicate that a reverse genetics system for the Komatsugawa strain has successfully been established.