Recent incursions of bluetongue virus (BTV) into previously naive geographical areas have emphasised the need to better understand virus movement and epidemiology. Several bluetongue virus (BTV) serotypes are known to exist in India, and some serotype viruses have been isolated. However, the complete genome of not a single isolate is available to date. We report the complete genome sequence of one, and partial sequences of three other Indian isolates of BTV-9. Evolutionary relationships with segment-2 and -6 sequences of BTV isolates around the world, deduced using four different phylogenetic analyses and a similarity programme, show that BTV-9 (Eastern), BTV-9 (Western), and BTV-5 form a triad of equidistant, genetically distinct groups of viruses. The Indian BTV-9 isolates were closely related to Mediterranean and European BTV-9 isolates (Eastern topotype) based on segment-2 and -6 sequences. By contrast, segment-5 analyses clustered the Indian BTV-9 isolates with South African BTV-3 reference strain (98% identity), which belongs to one of the Western types. These results have implications on BTV origin and movement, genotyping, serotyping, and vaccine design.

Bluetongue (BT) is an infectious, arthropodborne viral disease of domestic and wild ruminants caused by bluetongue virus (BTV), which is a double-stranded segmented RNA virus. Of the 26 confirmed BTV serotypes, 23 were reported in India based on the detection of antibodies or virus. In order to assess the prevalence of different serotypes in Andhra Pradesh, serum samples which were positive for BTV by group-specific antibody ELISA were subjected to type-specific neutralization of BTV serotypes 1, 2, 9, 10, 21 and 23. Of the 52 samples tested, 50.0, 44.23, 21.15, 26.92, 0, and 15.38 % neutralized BTV serotypes 1, 2, 9, 10, 21 and 23, respectively. However, 32.69 % of the ELISA positive sera could not neutralize any of these serotypes, indicating that there could be other serotype viruses (e.g., BTV-3 and -16) circulating in the State. This method can be used for surveillance of the circulating serotypes as well as for assessing the level of herd immunity, and assist in determining the vaccine strains to be used in multivalent vaccines.Keywords Bluetongue virus Á Serotype Á Surveillance Á Virus neutralization assay Á Epidemiology Bleuetongue (BT) is one of the major economically important livestock diseases in India. The disease is caused by bluetongue virus (BTV), a double-stranded segmented RNA virus belonging to genus Orbivirus of family Reoviridae. Clinical BT is observed only in sheep, and not in other domestic or wild animals. However, antibodies against BTV are frequently observed in cattle, buffaloes, goats and some wild ruminants, indicating asymptomatic infection in these species [21,23,25,27,36]. Twenty-six different serotypes of BTV are recognized worldwide and distinct topotypes defined by closely related sequences of each genome segment have been proposed [19]. In India, 23 serotypes of BTV have been reported, identified either by serology or virus isolation, and eight serotypes (BTV-1, -2, -3, -9, -10, -16, -21, and -23) have been isolated from different regions during the last decade [4,5,8,12,17,22,26,28,30,33,36,37].BT is endemic in India. Multiple serotypes of BTV commonly circulate in the same geographical area, and can be isolated from the same flock or even from the same animals. Further, recent reports indicate the incursion of Western topotypes of BTV into India [12,17,18,20,29,31]. Therefore, the identification of circulating serotypes of BTV is important. However, virus isolation followed by serotyping is time consuming. In addition, by the time the viruses are isolated and the serotype is determined, new serotypes may appear, resurface or dominate, making it difficult to select the serotypes for incorporation in vaccines. An inactivated polyvalant vaccine has been developed in India using five serotypes of BTV (BTV-1, -2, -10,

A series of novel mixed transition metal-Magnesium tartarate complexes of general formulation [MMg(C 4 H 4 O 6 ) 2 . xH 2 O] (where M = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn) is prepared with bidentate tartarate ligand. The synthesized complexes (C1 to C6) are characterized by various analytical techniques such as Elemental analysis, Thermo gravimetric analysis, FT-IR Spectroscopy, X-ray Diffraction, Magnetic susceptibility study etc. All complexes exhibit the composition MMgL 2 where M = Mn(II), Fe(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) and L = bidentate tartarate ligand. Analytical data reveals all complexes possesses 1:1 (metal: ligand) ratio. FT-IR spectral study shows that bidentate tartarate ligand coordinate with metal ion in a bidentate manner through two oxygen atoms. Thermo gravimetric analysis of all complexes shows that degradation curves of complexes agrees with recommended formulae of the complexes. X-ray diffraction technique suggests that all complexes (C1 to C6) are polycrystalline in nature. All newly synthesized metal tartarate complexes and ligand were screened in vitro for their anticancer activity against human breast cancer (MDA-MB-231) cell line. The bioassays of all these complexes showed C3 (Co) and C5 (Cu) Mg-tartarate complexes contains maximum antiproliferative activity at 200 µg/ml concentration on MDA-MB-231 cells as compared to other complexes. MDA-MB-231 cells treated with C3 (Co) and C5 (Cu) Mg-tartarate complexes also showed inhibition in cell migration.

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