Full genome sequence of the first bluetongue virus serotype 21(BTV?21) isolated from China: evidence for genetic reassortmentbetween BTV?21 and bluetongue virus serotype 16 (BTV?16)

AbstractBluetongue (BT) is one of the most important insect-borne, non-contagious viral diseases of ruminants and can causesevere disease and death in sheep. Its pathogen, bluetongue virus (BTV) has a double-stranded RNA genome consisting of10 segments that provides an opportunity for field and vaccine strains of different serotypes to reassort whilst simultaneouslyinfecting the same animal. For the first time, we report the full-length genome sequence of a BTV strain of serotype21 (5149E) isolated from sentinel cattle in Guangxi Province in China in 2015. Sequence analysis suggested that the isolate5149E had undergone a reassortment incident and acquired seg-6 from an isolate of BTV-16 which originated from Japan.This study aims to provide more understanding as to the origin and epidemiology of BTV