Short Communications Differentiation of rabies fixed and street viruses using RT-PCR coupled with restriction endonuclease analysis

A method based on RT-PCR and restriction endonuclease digestion of amplified PCR product was used to differentiate rabies laboratory “fixed” and “street” viruses. The primer sets from glycoprotein and nucleoprotein gene of rabies virus were used to amplify 406 and 533 bp amplicons, respectively. After amplification in RT-PCR, the PCR product was digested with HaeIII restriction endonuclease and analysed for the presence or absence of restriction site on amplicons. The presence of HaeIII restriction site on amplicons indicated rabies fixed virus while absence indicated street virus.