Sero-typing of bluetongue vaccine virus serotypes

Bluetongue (BT) is a non-contagious, economically important arthropod (Culicoides spp.) transmitted viral disease of sheep and goat. Early detection of BT is important considering the severe economic losses in terms of high morbidity and mortality. In this study, a multiplex RT-PCR was designed for rapid detection and characterisation of Bluetongue vaccine virus serotypes. A total of five sets of gene-specific primers targeted for five serotypes of bluetongue virus (BTV) incorporated in BT vaccine were tested in the multiplex reaction. Individual set of primers were checked to determine their specificity to respective targets. In uniplex and multiplex RT-PCR, the desired gene amplicon sizes of 401 bp, 590 bp, 658 bp, 768 bp and 850 bp in length were obtained for serotype BTV2, BTV10, BTV23, BTV16 and BTV1, respectively. The optimised multiplex PCR can be used routinely for identification and serotyping of BTV serotypes prevalent in India.