3.4 Amplification and phylogenetic analysis of RPO30 gene:
PCR amplification of RPO30 gene detected genome in 77% skin biopsy samples (Table 4) . Nucleotide sequencing of RPO30 gene revealed that LSDV isolate LSDV/CCARI-Goa1/India/2021 (Acce.No.MW590715) showed highest similarity (~100%) with Neethling (NI-2490) strain (Acce.No.AF325528) and Kenyan strain (Acce.No.MN072619), however it was distinctly different from GTPV and SPPV isolates of India. The phylogenetic tree generated five clusters. Cluster I had the LSDV isolates from India, Kenya and Bangladesh. Cluster II contained LSDV from China, cluster III with GTPV isolates and cluster IV with SPV isolates (Fig. 2B) . The recovered isolate in this study was similar to LSDV isolates reported from field outbreaks in Odisha and other parts of India during 2019.