Export Control Regulations Lifted for Rabies and VSV-G plasmids

If you're an international researcher who uses rabies and VSV-G plasmids, you may have noticed it’s been easier to order these plasmids. This is because in 2024 certain export control exceptions were made by the US Bureau of Industry and Security, pursuant to the international controls prescribed by the Australia Group, for these plasmids for the majority of the countries we ship to, first on a temporary and now on a more lasting basis.

Table 1: Popular Rabies and VSV-G Plasmids

Name	Purpose	Depositing Lab
pCMV-VSV-G	(Empty Backbone) Envelope protein for producing lentiviral and MuLV retroviral particles. Use in conjunction with a packaging vector such as pCMV-dR8.2 dvpr (lentiviral) or pUMVC (MuLV retroviral).	Bob Weinberg
pMD2.G	VSV-G envelope expressing plasmid	Didier Trono
pVSV-G	Expresses VSV-G envelope protein for pseudotyping NanoMEDIC particles	Akitsu Hotta
pHCMV-RabiesG	Contains Rabies virus G protein; see depositing paper for more information	Miguel Sena-Esteves
pcDNA-SADB19L	Contains rabies viral RNA polymerase; see depositing paper for more information	Edward Callaway

For researchers in countries with applicable export control exceptions for rabies and VSV-G, plasmids ship out approximately three weeks faster, as no license, or license fee, will be required. If you have any questions on ordering plasmids, please feel free to email help@addgene.org. We’ll be happy to help!

A quick note: While this blog post is accurate as of writing (Feb. 6, 2025), and we strive to keep our information updated, export controls and regulations are complex and may change suddenly. Please email help@addgene.org for the most-up-to-date information on shipping plasmids to your country.

Curious about how rabies plasmids are used in the lab? Check out our “Rabies and Neuronal Tracing” blog post! You can also browse tools for AAV tracing, made from rabies plasmids deposited by Ian Wickersham’s lab.